


HandShook

by Wiggle



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: (bared hands and hand shaking), Accidental Bonding, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Canon-Typical Violence, Happy Ending, M/M, Meet Hoot, Oops we're married, Protective Tony Stark, Sci-Fi AU, Strangers to Husbands Speed Run, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, eventual BAMF everybody, in-universe equivalent to public nudity, in-universe equivalent to public sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:47:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25088671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wiggle/pseuds/Wiggle
Summary: “Get me a handshake, Tony, that’s it. Don’t break anything and please do not turn this into an interspecies war.” -James RhodesTony Stark is the first man in the history of the human race to breach the heliosphere keeping humanity from the rest of the universe.Bucky’s people, the Aldori, a technologically advanced, space-faring race, watch him do it. They demand a meeting to establish diplomatic relations and determine whether or not humans will prove to be a threat. Without letting the Aldori know that only Tony’s ship is advanced enough to make the trip, Rhodey is forced to send him as ambassador.Simple enough, until the Aldori learn that humans make first contact by shaking hands.Lewd.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 134
Kudos: 361





	1. Chapter 1

**Break On Through To The Other Side**

“Yeeeeeeeah,” Tony yelled, adrenaline and delight wild in his blood as he piloted Jarvis through the Aethaeri radiation belt. Colours streaked chaotically across the viewing glass washing over Tony and the interior of Jarvis, making it hard to see—

“Shit!” With a sharp jerk, Tony sent Jarvis careening around a floating mass of rock. The Aethaeri radiation belt was a bit of a misnomer, as the name failed to account for the radiation being reinforced by the detritus of space. A meat grinder of chondrite, iron, and titanium asteroid calves that smashed into and against each other in a constant anarchic barrage. 

Assuming he didn’t die in the next ninety seconds, this would be the farthest bit of space humanity had ever reached in this section of the galaxy. And his was the only ship known to mankind that could make it. At least until he got his data back to Rhodey.

Jarvis lit up with multiple incoming hails. They weren’t even clear of the smaller debris clinging to the edges of the heliosphere. No one should know he was here. Ignoring the unknown hail, as if he was going to answer some other pilot’s buttdial at a moment like this, he popped Rhodey onto the screen.

“Little busy, Sugarpuss,” Tony said, waving his hands through Jarvis’ bluelight navigation system. The excitement was almost over. Another twenty seconds and Tony could let Jarvis self pilot the rest of the way. Another forty and he’d know if he was going to die of massive radiation exposure.

“Tony what are you doing? I’ve got some queen of the Aldori on the line asking—”

“Never heard of her.” Tony’s fingers danced through the blue light lines as Jarvis slowed to cruise gently through the last remnants of the belt. Letting out an explosive breath, he slumped forward. Adrenaline and relief swamped through him. He’d made it. He was through. 

Signalling Jarvis with a swipe of his hand to hold them steady, he turned letting the navigation array wink out. Rhodey first, then the virgin paths of an untouched star system. Another flick of his fingers had Jarvis monitoring Tony’s vitals. Numbers indicating his heart rate, blood pressure, and mRELs appeared on the wall behind Rhodey’s projected face.

“—is the _point_. No one has heard of them. It took you five seconds to piss off an unknown alien species and now they want to meet you.”

“What? How do we know they’re pissed off?”

“Man, you have got to open your ears when I am talking to you. They want to meet with _you._ I’m just hedging my bets. The first time you met my sister there was nearly an interplanetary war. This is an unknown species.” A muffled voice interrupted Rhodey. Tony couldn’t make out what they were saying but the tone came across clipped and hurried.

“What? What’s happening now?”

“Apparently, they’re a bit miffed that you aren’t answering their calls.” Rhodey’s voice dropped. “I need you to keep doing that. Give me time to figure out what we’re dealing with. If I can get some answers, maybe we can keep this from becoming an _incident_.”

Tony tracked the readouts indicating his radiation levels. No catastrophic organ failure or surprise mutant abilities. He wasn’t even glowing. At least, not any more than usual. “It’s not like—” 

“Brace for impact,” Jarvis announced.

“Tony—?” 

Whatever Rhodey had been about to say was lost.

“Brace for—?” Tony started when the arc in his chest grew warm. The nanites were drawing additional power. He’d created them as a pro-active shielding system. The tiny, semi-sentient bots were designed to hunt and destroy asteroids when their unpredictable vectors brought them too close to Jarvis.

What the hell could be happening that they needed to tap into Tony’s arc? “Details would be nice.”

“Tony what’s going—”

“We appear to be under attack. There are no trajectory or orbital models that can account for the sudden change in behaviour of the debris field.”

“Behaviour?”

“The objects trapped in the radiation belt are changing course. Projections that do not account for sentient interference fail. I can only conclude they are being directed, sir. At you.”

“Gonna have to call you back Honeybear. I’ve got guests. Jarvis, cut it.” Tony swung back around, the sea of panels and blinking lights that kept them both alive nothing but visual noise. With a wave of his arm the navigation array sprang back into being and Tony reached out to—

His chest flared hot. The nanites were drawing more arc energy. Tony swallowed back the burning taste of hot metal. “What was that?” He pushed himself into the light array despite the pull on the arc encouraging him to look behind himself. He knew where the danger was. Staring out Jarvis’ backend wasn’t going to do him any good.

“Nope, no time. Where are they?”

“Across all known spectrums, I can detect no sentient life other than yourself within range of my sensors.”

Tony cocked his wrists, first rolling Jarvis then performing a neat up and over maneuver to buy himself time. “Looks like we’re field testing everything today, J. Let’s get out of here. It’s light ribbon time.”

“Sir.” 

With that, Jarvis launched them forward. Outside the viewing windows cold starlight froze, then stretched, then streaked past. The windows were an extravagance, structural weak points, unnecessary. But worth it for this view.

Even with the danger barely behind him, the arc in Tony’s chest glowed at the sight, a frisson of childlike delight shining out of his chest. Tony felt the same, new space spread out in front of him in every direction. 

“We clear yet?”

“The horizon is clear and no further attacks have been forthcoming. However—” 

“Okay, cut the engines, give it a count of twenty and then get Rhodey back on the line. You think it was our new neighbours?”

“There is no evidence either for or against that hypothesis.”

“Tony, what the hell happened?” Rhodey’s voice filled the bridge.

“I’m fine, Snapple of my eye. Do they still make Snapple? Plausible deniability, you need it. There may have been a bit of a tickle fight. The new neighbours might want to go at it like co-eds. But, you know, if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge an asteroid—” 

“Listen to me. I’m going to talk to them. I’m going to sort this out. If anything else shoots at you, come back.”

Tony winced. That wasn’t happening. “Done deal.” 

He smiled into the camera. 

“What? What does that look mean, Tony don’t ignore me—”

“New space,” Tony said, giving Rhodey the tiny nudge he needed to focus on the barrier they’d just breached. One that had been holding humanity back since they’d begun travelling between the stars. If he gave Rhodey another second, he’d blow Tony getting a little bit attacked out of proportion and realize Tony had no intention of turning back yet. 

“New _space,_ ” Rhodey said, right there with him like Tony’d hoped, smile wider than it’d been since he’d snuck out of basic to meet Jarvis. “New space, new aliens.” His face turned serious again. “New threats.”

“Maybe—”

“No, listen. You don’t know anything. You come back alive. You are _lucky_ , not invincible.”

Tony shrugged. “Could be both.”

“Yeah, all right, we’ll head to the gym when you get back then. Test that theory.” Rhodey slipped back into business mode. “Jarvis has their coordinates. It should take you a week to get there. Do _not_ invent a new way to travel through space so that you can get there before I update you.”

That was just shortsighted on Rhodey’s part. Tony had already created it. Now he wasn’t even breaking the rules.

“Lucky and an idiot—” Jarvis left the call open long enough for Tony to hear. 

“Talented!” Tony shouted back. 

“I’m afraid the call has ended. Also, sir, if I may offer my condolences…”

“What for, J?”

“I know you were hoping for this area to be unexplored.”

Tony twisted to look out at the stars. It was all new to him. Nothing here had ever been touched by his sun. Nothing here had ever been seen by another living human. New space, new people.

“Nah J,” he said, knowing that the light from a million stars he’d never seen before was reflected in his eyes, painting it’s way across his skin. 

“I think we’ve spent enough time alone.”

\-----

**You’re As Cold As Ice**

Bucky tipped his head and considered the high arched window as he walked past. It was the seventh such window he’d encountered since being summoned. Large, single paned, and opalescent, it was all that separated him from freedom. He imagined quickening his footsteps so he’d be swift enough to shatter the glass as he lunged through. He’d have to balance it carefully, fast enough to escape, slow enough not to draw attention from the eyes that followed him. For a moment the wind rushed past his face, and his hair thrashed loose and free. 

Slow, he reminded himself, another measured pace leaving the window behind him. He put thoughts of freedom out of his mind. His life had become an exercise in slowing himself, stilling himself enough to avoid drawing attention. There would be no escape.

The vaulted ceilings that soared above him whispered his footsteps back at him from every direction. The architecture was frustratingly open and indefensible. Suffused with light, its only redeeming quality was the lack of hiding places amongst the delicate arches and widely spaced pillars. Even though the palace was his home, he still saw it with a sniper’s eyes.

His metal fist clenched. The heavy silk draping over his hands muffled the unnatural sounds as his new joints worked, the small tink of metal on metal. 

Being summoned by his sister to a council of elders wasn’t something he had ever looked forward to, but boredom was survivable and his sister’s wrath wasn’t worth the alternative. He’d hated these summons when he was a boy, he’d avoided them after he’d volunteered to serve, and since he’d come home… well…

Bucky flexed his hand again. He hadn’t liked them when he’d been welcome. He tried not to have any feelings about them now either way.

He passed another window, the false promise of freedom fading in the play of light. Instead, his own image was fed back to him. This was who he was now—a silk draped prince, hair in the elaborate braids of his station, shoulders exposed and unmarked. He tried not to let it rankle. Not even that his left shoulder was metal now, unable to be marked at all.

Bucky sucked air into his chest, tried to hold as much space and stillness within himself as this room. Reminding himself to go slower, to _be_ slower, he checked his pace. Slow in his body, still in his mind. 

Even dragging his steps, the doors to his sister’s war room arrived too quickly. Unlike the rest of the palace, these doors were not designed for access by someone wearing the sleeves of a noble. He remembered standing here next to his mother, the doors towering and massive when he was small, learning that the doorknobs meant equality. All they meant to him now was waiting for the door warden and mourning the loss of his service gloves. Bucky sought stillness again, another slight twist ratcheting him towards complete immobility. Beneath his left sleeve the fingers of his metal hand ticked, one by one, against his thumb. 

An amused voice interrupted Bucky’s thoughts. “One of these days I’m going to have to formally pay my respects to whatever general had those door handles installed.”

“Steve.” Bucky whipped halfway around, relieved until he realized his friend was emerging from the doorwarden’s closet. That couldn’t be good. “What did you do?”

“Had a writ for the door warden, no idea what it said. She took off like it was pretty urgent.” He straightened his collar like he had nothing to hide, his slender frame radiated false innocence.

He was a terrible liar, but he was excellent at getting people to move as he wanted them too. “How long have you been hanging on to that? How did you know I’d be here?” 

Steve nodded towards the door. “Your sister, her advisors, and anyone with brass on their collar is in that room. What’s going on Buck?” 

Bucky tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. He had the worst taste in friends.

“No one’s talking, there’s so much not talking a guy could get suspicious. What aren’t they telling us?”

“Let me inside and I’ll tell you what I can when I get out.” If he still had his gloves he wouldn’t be trapped here by polite convention.

"Your highness," Steve reached for the door, all speed and false solicitude now that Bucky had given in. 

Bucky barely managed a dirty hand gesture, obvious even behind the protection of his sleeve, before the door swung open onto a scene of confusion. His sister’s advisors swarmed about, uncommonly animated. Sleeves flew in the wide gestures of someone of rank trying to make a point, screens popped into existence and disappeared, a constant cascade of changing images and information. The last time this room had been this frantic, the Chitauri had invaded and Bucky had watched while his sister declared war. Between his own deployment and Hydra reawakening, that was almost the last time he’d seen her. Somehow this felt nothing like that—more excitement, less dread. He stepped forward eagerly, almost hastily, after his measured pacing out in the hallway. Steve had been right, s _omething_ was happening, something interesting. 

The minute his slippered foot hit the floor everything came to an abrupt stop. The monitors winked out in a wave across the room until everything was silent and still. 

All eyes in the room swung to rest on him. Since his return Bucky had been under heavy scrutiny, despite that most people made it obvious they were doing their best to look anywhere but at him. They didn’t want to see his replaced shoulder or acknowledge what it meant any more than he did. His eagerness faded under the attention, the weight of it pushing at him until it was gone.

This level of scrutiny pulled up small instincts he’d learned in his childhood, instincts he’d thought his time fighting with the commandos had stamped out. He cast his eyes down. It was safer than looking anyone too directly in the eye. Was this somehow about him? 

Staring down allowed him to confirm his hands weren’t exposed. For an instant, he was thirteen again, standing in a room like this with his parents and their advisors, about to be admonished for having his wrists exposed in public.

Safely hidden behind the heavy fabric, Bucky bled his nerves out through his metal fingers, each finger tapping in turn against his thumb. What the hell was going on? Refusing to be cowed, he canted his head back, though he kept his gaze light and surreptitious. Was everyone blushing? 

“James,” Becca said, breaking the stalemate and taking charge in the same effortless way she did most things. The starburst crown arching above her brow an extension of her control rather than the source. “Someone’s come through the Trench.”

The words were so unlikely it took him a moment to work out what she meant. The Trench. The barrier that Bucky’s people had backed themselves against out of self defence. With that impassable deathshroud at their figurative backs, the Aldori had been able to stand against the Chitauri. Not some _thing_ , but some _one_ had come through. Stardust. The last time they’d sent hails through, Bucky had been a child. He could remember the wild excitement, his certainty that this time someone would answer. No one had ever responded, let alone come through. What kind of technology must a species possess to make it through where Bucky’s people couldn’t? Where even the Chitauri did not try.

Are they friendly? He wanted to ask. Years ago, he would have, but it wasn’t his place. He would have the information she wanted him to.

Casting another glance around the room, he identified the councillor most likely to be loose lipped. He’d have the information she wanted him to and whatever else he could sneak once everyone’s attention turned elsewhere.

“James.” Becca’s face was caught in an awkward half emotion. 

Everyone was staring at him while he stood there like an idiot. If his time with the commandos hadn’t killed his ability to blush he was sure his cheeks would be heating. They weren’t even whispering amongst themselves, and from experience, he knew how hard it was to get this group of people to shut their mouths. Disquiet and embarrassment swirled in his gut. 

“We need this to go well. We need them.” She paused and Bucky saw her swallow. “At the very least, we need their neutrality. The last thing our people can handle now is invaders at our back while the Chitauri go unchecked and Hydra…” She kept her eyes on his, away from his exposed shoulder.

Folding her silk draped hands one over the other, she did something then that they hadn’t done in public since they were children. Her silk-encased hands swooped under his until all four of them were stacked together, his metal hand scarcely separate from hers. Voices broke out and murmurs filled the room. Old instincts told Bucky to duck his head. Like the blushing, they were instincts he’d thought he’d left behind. Whatever she was about to ask, he didn’t need to be coddled. He didn’t need her, sister or no, to practically _hold his hand_ in full view of at least twelve of her senior advisors. “I need an alliance, James. I’m asking you to meet with him when he arrives. It won’t…” 

She trailed off before making an exasperated sound almost too quietly for him to hear. 

“It won’t be easy, little brother. They are very forward.” 

Oh. 

_Oh._ Bucky had always known he’d be married off politically. He’d forgotten, he supposed, after the arm had changed everything. Now, with a new species in front of them, his deficiencies would no longer prevent him from serving his purpose.

He’d been prepared for loveless, but he didn’t even know what these new aliens looked like. “Do we…” He hesitated. Maybe it was better not to ask, not to know.

“Show him.” Becca tilted her head pointedly at the empty screens, stealing any chance Bucky had of backpedaling.

The silence that followed in the wake of her request raised the hairs on the back of his neck. 

“Should you be in the same room? It hardly seems appropriate.”

Becca rolled her eyes, her forehead pinched in irritation. She wouldn’t need to do anything more; she was all of Bucky’s forgotten charm and social grace amplified.

“We’re going to have a live demonstration in a little over a week, are you suggesting we meet the Human ambassador with our eyes closed?” Becca’s eyes cut to him. There was more than just irritation in them, and he wished he could read her as well as he’d been able to when they were young. “Prepare yourself. We’ve been reviewing the information the humans sent us regarding formal agreements between their people. These images are quite risque.”

Slow. Whatever this was, he would be ready for it.

\-----

**Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow**

At Becca’s word the screens popped back into being and Bucky found himself hustled into a seat. Some councillors turned their heads away, while others clustered together to speak in low tones. 

“This one’s my favourite,” said a woman who had to be the oldest of his sister’s advisors. She either couldn’t hear the scandalized whispers she set off, or she didn’t care. 

The screen directly in front of Bucky came to life showing two Aldori standing several feet apart. The image zoomed out to show a small gathering of people. It looked like a solemn event or ceremony.

The two figures moved towards each other, pulling the focus of the camera with them. Bucky wasn’t sure what this had to do with—their hands were bare. They were not Aldori.

Averting his eyes, Bucky fought the instinct to squirm. It was wrong to see someone so vulnerable, especially unknowingly. Discomfort crawled up his throat, and he swallowed thickly trying to contain it.

They _looked_ like Aldori. The resemblance was uncanny. He forced his eyes away again only to become aware of the tension in the room rising. This wasn’t for Bucky to see what humans looked like. Whatever this was supposed to be a crash course in, it wasn’t the uncanny resemblance between humans and Aldori, or the public nudity. 

A flurry of coughing and shuffling robes followed the camera settling. Whatever this was about, it was about to happen.

Only the two humans were visible, a pair of women. The one on the left with her hair up wouldn’t look out of place in the palace square or out amongst the market stalls lining the streets. The other woman wore her hair wild and loose. Bucky wasn’t judging, he wasn’t, but it was suggestive. His cheeks threatened to warm and he rolled his eyes at himself. He’d met with the monstrous almost humanoids of the Chitauri who barely wore clothing and that hadn’t affected him. Holding his comrades together on the battlefield until they could get medical attention, uniforms torn and ripped, hadn’t given him any pause.

But this was different. He felt like he was peeping into her home, viewing her in her private intimate moments. All because her hair was down.

Then Bucky forgot all of his carefully constructed reasoning and his attempts at not judging others by the standards of his own culture when the pair of women walked up to each other and their hands just… kept going.

Stardust, a little warning. That’s all he was asking for. Just a hint of warning before he, the aged councillors, and his _sister_ were all thrust into the awkward world of watching _pornography_ together. Was it hot in here? Bucky hadn’t resented his restrictive class dress so violently since he’d returned. And he hated it plenty. He thought his eyes might be drying out from how pointedly he avoided looking at anyone else in the room.

Dust _,_ the women were still going at it. The shorter one smiled right into the taller one’s eyes and _swiped her thumb_ down the back of the other woman’s hand. In an abrupt one-eighty from his earlier position, Bucky was deeply grateful to the heavy robes encasing him. He was blindingly hard and he didn’t need that kind of evidence parading around in front of him.

Looking away from his screen, realization descended on him. All of them, every video was playing out some official seeming meeting between humans. On every screen someone’s hand was being touched or squeezed, stroked, or pumped, or caressed.

Bucky shifted again, setting his eyes on his lap.

Dust, his sister was asking him to meet with the human representative. She was asking him to bare his hands in public and tangle them up with someone else’s while he was at it. Not a marriage at all. His bare hands, naked, touching someone else's for anyone to see. 

What were they telling the human about all this? If the alien didn’t accept Bucky, that would be… he swallowed queasily. There would be no accepting. That wasn’t what this was about. He tried not to think about it—the feel of someone else’s skin rubbing over his own, the warmth, the intimacy. No, no intimacy. There wouldn’t be any of that. 

If Bucky did that in public, where anyone could see, he’d be ruined.

Were they going to record this? Why did they have so many if it wasn’t their practice to record them?

Bucky’s eyes darted about a little wildly. On every screen there wasn’t just handshaking, there was something extra. A little squeeze here, a grazing caress of a thumbstroke there. Was he going to have to know how to do that? How did they know what the other person would like? Did they discuss it beforehand? 

Wait, what—

Those two men were just holding hands now, they’d shaken and then shifted to put their arms around each other with their hands _still touching_. 

Bucky could only imagine how valuable these tapes must be. That first one, with the two women, the one who’d worn her hair down like she was casual and happy at home—he’d have paid for that. 

“So,” Bucky said, when he couldn’t handle the way his thoughts chased themselves in circles anymore. “That’s what you’re asking me to do?”

Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad, he thought as panic narrowed his vision and he burst into a new round of sweating. Once everyone on the planet had seen his bare hands exposed and touched and used, he’d be completely unmarriageable. That would be pretty okay, right?

If he could do this, he could be free.

“We need this.” Becca’s voice cut through the spiral of his thoughts. 

He barely noticed one of his sister’s councillors stepping into his field of view. “Your time at the front was a gift to the Aldori. You shaped this war. Your sister needs you to do it one more time.” The man spread his sleeves wide. “We’re at a tipping point between order and chaos. These… humans could help give us a push. If you do your part, we can give our people the freedom they deserve.”

He was right. The Aldori deserved whatever Bucky could give. That was why he’d joined the war effort in the first place. Listening to the small whirring sounds as the arm worked, he knew he would do the best he could for them. He’d tried once already and failed. That wouldn’t happen again.

“Alexander.” Becca’s mouth was a severe line as she waved the councillor aside. Stepping into Bucky’s space, she lowered her voice. “I can’t do this.”

Of course she couldn’t do this. She was their queen, her people were at war, they would never expose her like this, let alone for an alliance with an unknown and unproven species. Something must be worse on the war front than she was telling him.

“We need the allies,” he said for her. Gesturing to his obscured metal bicep, he tried to make her smile. He’d been good at that once. “Good thing they seem to prefer the right hand, otherwise I’d have to explain this.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Back To Reality**

“Worse than usual, huh?” Steve asked as Bucky exited the war room. “You want me to start a fight? They’re talking about cutting benefits to the families of fallen soldiers again. I’ve got plenty of reason to go make a scene.”

“Nah,” Bucky said, dragging the belled end of his sleeve over Steve’s head. He had five days before his life had to change. There was a silver lining in all this. No reason for him to dwell. He only needed to break the news to Steve without starting another war. The chaos he’d made of Steve’s hair brought what felt like his first smile in a week to his face. “S’not too bad.” 

That might even be half true. If he was responsible for meeting the humans, maybe he’d get to see their planet. Bucky hadn’t been planetside except for skirmishes since his people had launched themselves into the stars to avoid extinction at the hands of the Chitauri. If anyone was going to ride on an alien ship that could fly through the Trench—He tried to curb his expectations. Wanting something too much, he’d found, had a way of making that thing not happen.

“Catastrophically awful then,” Steve predicted, gloved hands easily raking his hair into an approximation of control. 

They could argue about this over food. Bucky’s sleeves swung as he turned to lead them out—was Steve wearing an armband?

“You’re not wearing that just to piss the queen off are you?” Most Aldori wore armbands. The councillors Bucky had just left all had the ring of fabric around their left bicep, declaring them for some cause or other. They were relevant enough that all Aldori could read them, and prevalent enough that they were mostly invisible.

Steve’s—blue with Bucky’s star at the center—declared his loyalties to Bucky. A vanishingly rare sight since Bucky’d been sent home.

“Seemed like the thing to do.”

“If you’re trying to start something, now is not the time.” 

“What is it time for?” 

Bucky clamped his eyes shut. He shouldn’t have given Steve the opening. Artificial night on this side of the city ship was coming on quickly. All he wanted now was to find a quiet corner and wait for the artificial lighting to reach its lowest ebb so he could watch the stars. Instead, he kept them moving. He’d have a better chance of keeping Steve distracted if he thought they were doing something. There was a lot he didn’t want to explain to Steve yet. “It’s a new species. They call themsel—”

“Friendly?”

Of course Steve would try and drive this conversation. Meeting the Chitauri and later discovering the re-emergence of Hydra had not gone well for the Aldori and Steve had plenty of reason to take that personally. 

“They call themselves human,” Bucky said, refusing to be talked over after the last hour of exactly that, “came right through the Trench…”

Steve stopped walking and eyed Bucky. “How many?” 

Bucky was sure he was giving everything away as his eyes pinged from Steve’s to the artificial twilight descending softly from the levels above and back again. He should have kept his damn mouth shut.

“One ship, one human aboard.” 

“Can they come through whenever they want? How many mor—”

“They haven’t done anything that looks aggressive,” Bucky said, aiming for reassuring. “Their comms went down or something on the way through. The human has maintained his position flying loops through the sector while they try and get it patched up.”

“I’m sure glad there’s nothing suspicious about the unknown alien having a comm failure,” Steve said, voice dry.

“I’m going to meet him.” Excitement coursed through Bucky, Steve’s suspicion couldn’t dim the one genuine brightspot in this whole affair. “New race, new tech, I’ll get to see what a spaceship that can make it through the Trench looks like. They—”

"Why would you—oh." Steve's mouth set into an unforgiving line. He knew the Aldori sealed alliances with marriage. He also had intimate knowledge of how much Bucky dreaded that exact thing. “Is she even going to ask for an alliance or are they just going to try and use you to placate them? You don’t have to—”

“I always knew, Stevie.” Bucky said quietly.

“No.” There was a lot of finality in that no. It was the same no Steve had used when Bucky had joked about getting discharged on account of his arm. Steve’s convictions may have been a balm to his soul, but they didn’t always accomplish a whole heck of a lot in the face of Bucky’s royal duties. “You don’t have to do this, it’s antiquated and unnecessary. Why are you okay with—”

“Steve! It’s just a little public handshaking.”

“What?”

“Their values are diff—”

“You fought for them, they should be thanking you. This isn’t right.”

Oh no. Derailing Steve from something after he’d declared that it ‘wasn’t right’ was nearly impossible. 

“He won’t know what it means to us and then I’ll be free.” 

There, Bucky had said it. He’d acknowledged that this would resolve his transformation into a complete social pariah. The handshake would make him untouchable, unsuitable for political marriage. Steve wouldn’t see it, but that promise justified the sacrifice. After this, he would have nothing left to give. He would never let his people down again, never fail his sister. And, with his reputation ruined, he could travel the edges of known space, go through the Trench. 

See the stars. 

“You mean you’ll be an outcast.” Steve turned on his heel, heading straight back to the war room. 

Bucky sighed. He didn’t disagree with Steve, but he was going to stop him anyway. 

“Your coward of a sister—”

“Don’t talk about Becca like that.” He placed himself in front of Steve. There was one line between Bucky and Steve: Becca. Steve hadn’t crossed it in years, and Bucky wasn’t about to let him start now. He never agreed with Becca, but Bucky would never let her down. “C’mon, I’m starving and I’m done talking about this. Do you think they’ll agree to a technology exchange? We help them with their comms, they give us what we need to pass through the Trench?”

Steve’s eyes searched his face until, “I’m more interested in what a ship like that could do against the Chitauri.” 

\-----

**Communications 101**

Tony whipped Jarvis through another hairpin turn. He’d been left cooling his heels in this sector long enough he’d had to break friendship vow #46 and begin work on wormhole manipulation. If Rhodey didn’t like it, he could pick up the pace with the Aldori and give Tony something—anything—to do. 

Despite ample downtime, Tony and Jarvis hadn’t found anything substantive on the sentient rocks mystery. There were more questions than answers, and the answers he did have didn’t match up in a way that made sense. 

With a roll of his wrist, he had Jarvis double his speed into a sharp lateral descent. 

The readings Jarvis had gathered of direct hits and glancing blows from their encounter with the unknown sentient entity glowed at Tony from the walls. There were significantly more indirect hits than direct so whoever they were, they weren’t that interested in accuracy. 

He banked hard, pitch reversing in a perfect one-eighty. The nanites had performed admirably, even viciously, almost pulling themselves free of Jarvis’ small grav field in their efforts to annihilate the projectiles. 

That at least was one answer—such an enthusiastic response explained the drain on Tony’s arc. The nanites were hungry and savage. He might have to adjust that. Eyes back on the readouts, Tony flicked Jarivs into a soft yaw rotation.

The niggling gap in Jarvis’ data dragged at Tony’s attention. They had nothing on any spectrum of scans that showed either a signal of some kind reaching the debris field or sentient beings in the area. 

“Sir, a data packet from Colonel Rhodes has arrived. I’m afraid I still haven’t been able to establish a direct connection.”

“Throw it up. And have—whoa—” Jarvis blanked out two walls and most of the viewing window. “Is all of that relevant?” 

“How would you like me to determine which information regarding an unknown species is relevant, sir?”

“The _sass_ , have you been practicing with Rhodey? You can tell me.”

“They are called the Aldori. Colonel Rhodes has included a message for you.” 

“—ony? C’mon man. I told you to ignore their hails not mine. I’m telling you right now, if you are fucking with me, I will make it my mission in life to outlive you and put Tony Stank on your final records. That’s your legacy for the rest of time, Stank Industries. Try me.”

There was an expectant pause. Tony knew but he confirmed anyway. “Still nothing live, J?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Rhodey started speaking again, his tone oddly stilted, sucking Tony back twenty-five years to early communications between star systems. “Fine. I get it. This is my fault. I should have known if I left you alone for thirty seconds you’d discover alien life. Jarvis, when you get back here remind me to show Tony _my appreciation.”_

“You’ll be happy to know I’ve already taken the liberty of scheduling a reminder.”

“We erred on the side of caution.” Rhodey’s voice started back up.

“What? Me? I’m the side of caution?”

“Yes, you. I don’t need you on the line to know what you’re saying.” Rhodey sighed. “You. Through some… divine act or Old Earth eldritch curse, you are our safest bet. They have seen us. No, not us, it’s never us _,_ it’s always you. They saw you breach the heliosphere, come through the radiation belt, and not bite it on the asteroids. I am not going to admit that of our entire species, only you can do that. So go make nice with the aliens, get me an official handshake, and then get your ass back here and upgrade my ships.”

“He says the sweetest things. Did he include any details on… extracurricular activities?”

If the pause that followed hadn’t been just a little too long, he almost would have believed they had that live connection after all. Rhodey’s voice filled the small cockpit with his exasperation. “You just asked about their dicks didn’t you? Get me a handshake, Tony, that’s it. Don’t break anything and please do not turn this into an intergalactic war.” 

Something like wistfulness wafted through him. Tony had spent a lot of time alone on the rim with only Jarvis to judge his escapades in recent years. It would be nice to see a friendly face, even if it only lasted the few months it would take Tony to upgrade the fleet. Since Pepper had disembarked after their accidental encounter with a black hole—the one that had resulted in Tony merging with the arc that hummed quiet contentment in his chest—he’d been alone.

“I could have been asking about booze,” Tony grumbled, defending himself to no one.

“That is the end of the message. Though I’m sure the colonel would be pleased to hear that you only meant to drink yourself into a stupor and not engage in illicit acts with an unknown species. The, and I quote, ‘homework’ you see projected along the walls comes with its own directive.”

Once more Rhodey’s voice filled the hollow spaces between Jarvis’ consoles and blinking lights. “Read the packet, repeat it with me. Read. The. Packet.”

“—the packet. Will do Honeybear.” Tony saluted. 

The packets were _smaller_. 

Of course, just a small burst of data, live call logs… that and the electromagnetivity here, new sun, the radiation sphere… All he had to do was make phoning home smaller. 

“The delay between transmissions is getting longer, right?” Tony didn’t wait for an answer, there was no time mid-breakthrough. “The radiation insulation. It’s working on the comms systems too. The farther we get the longer it takes to phone home. Can’t get a live connection through that.” 

Waving away the data Jarvis had clogged the walls with—Tony hesitated. With a flick he swiped it back. Homework first.

“Okay, packet time. How long if we light ribbon there?”

“My estimates indicate fourteen hours and seven minutes.”

“Regular travel?”

“Five days.”

“Good, hit the gas. That’s plenty of time to become an expert on interspecies group hugs.”

\-----

**He Was With Me, Yeah Me**

“He’s here! He’s here and his name is Tony.” Barging in on Bucky in a way she hadn’t since they were children, Becca slammed the door to his apartments open. Remaining outside with one long sleeved arm covering her eyes she whipped—with accuracy that the sniper in Bucky was profoundly envious of—a set of white robes at his head. How did she _do_ that? And how was he supposed to get them free now that they were hopelessly tangled in his intricately braided hair? “Are you decent? Is the monster in there? Is he decent?” 

“I am and he’s not here yet.” Would a swift yank free him or make things worse?

She must have dropped her hand because her laughter cut through the space between them. The prospect of meeting friendly sentient life was clearly having a sharply regressive effect on her behaviour. He smiled behind the safety of the clinging garment. He’d missed his sister. “Help me, don’t just stand there laughing.”

“Um,” she said, a conversational tick she hadn’t had since they were young. 

Everything about this moment seemed designed to throw Bucky into the past. The sense of impending vertigo only got worse when he felt her carefully disentangling him. She could never be so precise or delicate with her long weighted sleeves in place. On the other side of the elaborate robes her hands must be uncovered. It shouldn’t be that strange. They were siblings. They were in Bucky’s private rooms. At home, amongst families, it wasn’t uncommon. But Becca was his queen—he hadn’t seen her without her sleeves since their parents had died.

Her hands stilled. 

“Are you very unhappy?”

A world opened up between them at that question. She'd known everything about him once, including how heavily his duties sat. If he lied, she’d know and the truth would only hurt her. Still, he knew why she asked. He swallowed thickly. Stardust, he’d missed her—this, her care for him, her investment in everything that affected his life.

“What do you mean he’s here?” Bucky asked instead, sparing them both.

“I sent them some information.” Her voice was cautious. A memory of nine year old Becca rose in his mind, trying her would-be queen voice on him the first time. Years later, Becca at seventeen, suggesting he enlist. “I couldn’t—”

The robes pulled free of his hair, but she didn’t lower them. Suspended between them, they cut the unbearable intimacy of the moment, leaving him room to breathe. There was nothing to look at except the white expanse of fabric between them.

“Are these bonding robes? Why—”

“I sent him some information about you. When I reviewed what my councillors thought was acceptable to send I found it lacking, impersonal. He’ll know about you now. Which is better.” 

She cleared her throat, her fingers tightening in the robes as she finally lowered them to meet his eyes. “I decided he should know what this would look like to our people. What this mea—could mean to us. To you.”

“So… marriage.” The tick, tick of Bucky’s metal fingers carefully measured out his patience. He could be still, be silent and immobile in his mind and in his body. The hand didn’t count. It wasn’t really his. He could do this. For her. The Aldori needed this. She’d said so. This had always been his fate. He’d been wrong to think otherwise.

“He came here, directly here. After I sent the packet he disappeared, I thought… well I thought he’d left. But then he was here, a five day trip and he made it in less than one.” 

If Tony was arriving five days ahead of schedule that must mean _something_. Something good? Bucky tried to squash the infuriating bloom of hope at the thought. The human could be terrible. This might turn out to be awful. 

At least this way it looked like someone—what? Wanted him? The thought squeezed his heart in his chest. He hadn’t realized he’d come to think so little of himself. Bucky _was_ excited though—a new species, new space, new _tech_. If Tony did like him… well.

Shifting the robes to one hand she reached up with the other, her fingers pulling lightly at one of the plaits of hair that had come free. Her eyes shifted minutely back and forth, meeting his gaze. “I could help you with your hair.” 

He smiled for her, refusing to acknowledge the way the warmth of doing right by her and his people warred against the rising cold inside. Some of her excitement came leaking back in. “This is a good thing.”

“What is?” Came Steve’s voice from the open entryway. “And why is the door open?”

“Oh good,” Becca’s hands disappeared, arms falling to her sides, “I was almost worried this would go well.”

Steve walked into the room and brought the world back with him. Bucky’s surroundings sprang back into his awareness—walls, curtains, carpet, everything unchanged from an hour ago. It was Bucky who didn’t fit anymore. 

Steve slumped immediately into lounging on Bucky’s couch, his lack of deference pointed. 

“Did you pass anyone on your way in?” Becca asked.

“Couple’a sleeves. Probably looking for you. Since you haven’t visited Bucky in years they’ll probably never find you.”

“The alien’s here, I’m getting married.” He definitely could have found a better way to say that. Bucky stared at his wall, the arcing lines of the phoenix constellation easier to face than Steve or his sister. 

Steve stared at him. Bucky could feel the pressure of his eyes boring into the side of his head.

“How? What changed?” Steve asked, shifting his attention to Becca.

Her face shuttered. His sister disappeared and their queen stood in her place. “When was the last time you were planet-side, Steven?” 

“Two months, nine day—” 

Bucky kept his gaze steady on his sister’s. That was the day he’d lost his arm and nearly his mind. 

“On Aldorae.”

Steve sat up, eyes narrowing. 

“Come now, you’ve been wanting to say it for years.”

“I was fourteen, I made it out on one of the last waves of evac ships. My mother was too old and deemed non-critical. It was three days after the order came down. Your order.”

There was no sign of remorse in Becca. Even though Bucky knew it still had to be there. He’d been in the room that day. Fifteen to Becca’s seventeen. She’d cried while signing the decree. 

“That’s right, years. They say you’re quite the tactician, that you should still be at the front. Tell me, what do we face out there?”

Steve’s face pinched, the muscles in his jaw standing out. For all the tension between them, Steve was still clearly trying to work out what Becca was saying. “They’re not Hydra.” 

His eyes darted around the room, seeing the hidden pieces of a bigger picture, condensing them into a whole. Bucky had seen him do this before.

“The Chitauri are nearly mindless,” Steve said slowly, eyes coming to rest on Bucky. “A threat to us only because of their numbers, but we keep losing. Why?”

From his tone, he’d forgotten he was in the middle of disagreeing with Becca. “Bucky getting spiked wasn’t a coincidence was it?” 

Reaching for stillness, Bucky slowed his heart rate, his movements, his thoughts. Glacially, he turned to look at his sister.

She nodded sharply. “Hydra. They spike our people, steal them away with propaganda and trickery. We are Hydra, my own people. Maybe my own advisors. Setting that aside, I can’t fight a war on three fronts, not against a people who can come through the Trench unscathed. Allies against the Chitauri would be a boon. People who cannot possibly be Hydra, for however long that lasts? Impossibly valuable. Ensuring there is no enemy at our backs—?” 

Steve’s mouth pressed into a firm line. Becca was right. Steve knew she was right, Bucky could see it. 

“It’s still wrong.”

A knock interrupted whatever she intended to say. She looked to Bucky, eyebrows raised in question. He shook his head, he wasn’t expecting anyone.

Pressing the marriage robes into Bucky’s hands, she crossed the room and pressed the door open. 

“I don’t owe you an explanation,” she said without looking back. Bucky watched the door swing shut, the eyes of her advisors watching him until the last second.


	3. Chapter 3

**Holding Out For A Hero**

“Was it something I said?” Tony asked into the unnerving silence. He’d arrived on the Aldori ‘city’ ship an hour ago. In complete silence, he’d been escorted through the landing bay, down a series of unlikely hallways—which, stone? In space?—before being shuffled into an antechamber with wood paneling and lush carpet. It was just as incongruous as the stone in the walkways. The heavy materials ate the echo of his voice in a way no spaceship should. It felt wrong.

“It’s your hands,” the cute Aldori standing against the opposite wall said. 

Tony looked down at them, spreading his fingers wide to reveal intermittent scarring, burn marks mid-heal, and unkempt nails—the visual memory of a lifetime of building, working with ships, making new tech. It was as good a place as any to rest his eyes. 

“We’re not used to—” A wave of the yards of fabric dangling from his wrist encapsulated the guards Tony had been trying to surreptitiously inspect. “They’re embarrassed.”

“And you’re not?” Using the opportunity to look his fill, Tony let his eyes trail down the still unnamed Aldori and then back up. Everything about him was elaborately turned out, his hair was worked into a series of arching braids, and his robes bore the kind of detail that could only be produced by hand. The long sleeves that marked him out as nobility amongst his people clung loving to his biceps before shimmering nearly to the floor. One of those biceps was some kind of grafted metal that rose to envelope his shoulder. 

Tony had been absentmindedly forming and discarding plans to get his hands on that arm since he’d entered the room. None of them had a hope of succeeding without pissing Rhodey off.

Returning his gaze to meet his companion’s, Tony was treated to a very thorough once over of his own. Was that look for Tony the human or Tony? Interest sparked in him. These were uncharted waters. The same thrill that made Tony seek out new space pushed against him now. 

“I was a soldier,” the Aldori said, sounding confused with a furrow in his brow to match. Years of work with the military, and before that friendship with Rhodey, had taught Tony that no matter how little that phrase actually explained, military people always believed it explained everything. 

“I’m Bucky, since you haven’t asked, and you’re Tony. Did you get..?”

“The packet about you? Yeah, I got the debrief, your people have a set of formalities and observances they’d like us to go through, the ceremony, of course.” he shrugged. “Mine just want a good old handshake. Nothing to get too worked up about.”

Bucky averted his gaze. 

“Are you nervous?” Tony asked, trying to keep his delight out of his tone.

“I am.” 

“All we have to do is smack some skin together, maybe give it a little pump action, nothing to write home about.” Tony said, aiming for reassurance. 

No one expected him to _not_ flirt with the hot alien did they? 

“You want to practice?”

“I don’t,” Bucky sounded strangled, “I thought—Isn’t this so everyone can see?”

Tony rolled his wrist, flicking his hand out palm up. Bucky’s eyes tracked the motion like Tony was presenting him with a target. After a brief pause, a small pod of a bot swooped from Tony’s watch to hover over his hand. A faint click preceded a small frame of light projecting from it. As he’d done what felt like a thousand times in his youth, Tony turned in the light of recording, press smile at the ready. “This little sweetheart keeps me alive anywhere Jarvis—my ship—can’t follow. She’ll beam our meeting out to every viewing screen on the other side of the Aethaeri radiation belt. As soon as I get the shielding delay worked out anyway.”

“What’s it like?” Bucky asked. His tone was wistful and soft, eyes never leaving Tony’s bot.

“Like space pretty much anywhere else, unless you mean the people—” Tony cut off mid-sentence. Bucky was giving him a look. The arc in his chest heated with an eerily similar admonishment. “Wow, okay, judged already.”

Every time Tony stood on Jarvis’ bridge and saw something new or impossible or amazing, it was the inverse of Bucky’s question. It made it easy to find a place to start. “Jarvis says the stars taste different here. He lives on their light. Sort of. That sounds worse than it is. I haven’t seen much on this side of the belt, but on the other side he says the stars sing high and sweet and young. Here they have deep voices, low and slow and old. Full of memories.” 

Tony shrugged. “Not very meaningful for humans and Aldori maybe.”

“It sounds like Bonding.”

“What’s—” 

Without an order to follow, his little bot swung her attention to Bucky. The recording frame danced over him before she shut it away. “Tiffany, meet Bucky, Bucky, Tiffany.”

Tiffany flicked her lights back on manipulating their scope to narrow into a reasonable approximation of eyes. The first time she’d done that, worked it out completely on her own, Tony had nearly burst with pride. She was mid-way through winking at Bucky, the saucy thing, when— 

“Your camera has a name?”

Tiffany shuddered indignantly. 

Zooming over to hover in front of Bucky, she flicked to her infrared nighttime recording lights and narrowed them into slits. The light they cast was reflected on Bucky’s face.

“She’s not really someone you want as an enemy, handsome.” Oops. That was a one way ticket to exactly the intergalactic conflict Rhodey had asked him to avoid. Luckily, it seemed to have gone unnoticed as Bucky visibly melted over Tiffany.

He didn’t want to read too much into the look on Bucky’s face. Their species had known of each other a grand total of two days, but that looked a lot like unabashed delight to him.

Bucky—bowed?—long sleeves pooling negligently on the floor as he folded himself forward. Somehow, Tony had become superfluous. He should have just sent one of his bots, clearly they would have had this all wrapped up by now.

“Look how sorry he is,” Tony said, ready to call her back and put Bucky out of his misery. “He’s probably never met an intelligent bot before, sweetheart. You’re his first. You don’t want to leave him with a bad impression do you?”

Tiffany rotated her vaguely egg shaped form over itself a few times in a wobbling line. Releasing her small charging antenna she worked it’s opposable end in a wave.

“Well aren’t you just the sweetest thing,” Bucky said as he rose from his bent position. “Is Jarvis smart like she is?”

The angry red lines Tiffany used as her eyes faded from Bucky’s face until they were two soft pink circles.

“Yeah he’s great—Did you just make my bot blush?” Tony flicked his wrist again. “Uh uhn, nope. We don’t have time for a mutiny. Get back in here until you’re needed you little scamp.”

Tiffany made a show of slowly rotating before making her desultory way back to Tony. As she approached his wrist she deployed her charging antenna a second time in what looked like a wave goodbye. 

“If Jarvis likes you better than me too, this whole interspecies friendship thing is off.” 

A small mechanical whir from Bucky’s arm caught Tony’s attention. His shoulders were pinched in a painful line and his eyes were fixed on the floor.

“I could introduce you,” Tony said, voice deliberately light, “but if he starts making eyes at you, I’m turning him into a can opener.”

Bucky’s eyes flicked over Tony’s features twice before a tentative, devastating smile spread across his face. “When can I meet him?”

Cute alien interested in meeting his AI? That was way better than political maneuvering and glad handing amongst the Aldori. 

Tony never got to learn if he would have thrown caution to the wind. At that moment, the doors opened to reveal a large sloped seating area packed with Aldori, the balconies above them just as crowded. Out from the doorway led a wide, immaculate carpet lined by more guards.

“Handshake and the symbolic joining of our people first.” Tony stepped forward to put himself at Bucky’s side, so they faced the gathered crowd together.

Everything relaxed about Bucky disappeared. 

“Anything I should know?” Tony asked, aiming for soothing. 

Bucky said nothing. 

“Don’t worry about it, Buckaroo, it’s you and me now. I’ll take care of you.” Tony winked. That would be reassuring right? “Tiffany would never forgive me otherwise.”

\-----

**SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG**

This was it. 

Bucky sucked in a deep breath and filled his lungs to the point of pain. His sisters' guards, their loyalty to her worn on their arms, remained behind. Four new guards, these wearing his symbol, swept in to take their place as he stepped forward. Heat pressed at him, the glare of the throne room’s spotlighting burned into his eyes after the dim illumination of the antechamber. The scent of spiced meats and rich sauces, foods of celebration, drifted in from the feasting hall. His stomach turned. 

He could do this. He’d faced unnumbered Chitauri down planet in the war. He’d fought Hydra, his own people, and the mindless metal monstrosities they became. He’d been spiked himself, almost become one of them, and survived. All of that, and Bucky was twisting his hand in his sleeve to keep his palm from sweating too much. Realizing he was uselessly twisting his metal hand too, he forced it to unclench.

Bucky could feel Tony’s eyes on him but he didn’t dare meet them. Everything he thought he’d resigned himself to came back with a vengeance. Each step forward was a mile, every breath a year. He felt every eye in the room like a physical weight.

This was going to be recorded. It was going to be distributed. He bunched the back of his sleeve into his flesh palm, breaking out into a fresh wave of sweat.

Halfway through leaning into a strategic retreat, he felt Tony at his shoulder. Their clothed elbows touched. 

“You need me to fake an alien emergency?” 

They’d come to a dead stop. The guards escorting them shifted nervously. Tony didn’t seem to notice or care, content to dawdle in full view of all Bucky’s people and make them wait. “No? I could release Tiffany. Cause a little terror and mayhem. She likes you. She’d do it.”

It had felt like stretching, being distracted by talk of singing stars and Tony’s bots and Tony himself _._ Bucky had forgotten what it felt like to reach out without the expectation of being denied. Walking into this room, returning to the expectations of his people, pushed that all away. Still and slow. He pulled all the pieces of himself back in. For a moment he’d stretched but now he needed to be still and slow again. 

At Bucky’s nod, Tony smoothly guided them back into forward motion.

The carpet widened out into a circle in the exact center of the room. Flower petals lay scattered around the border. Someone had erected a platform and standing in the middle of it was the marriage officiant. 

Please let Steve not do anything stupid. Please, just this one time, let him have listened to Bucky and stayed away. 

Bucky stepped onto the platform. He wasn’t on the battlefield anymore but he was still at war. His sister needed him. And Tony, Stardust, he _liked_ Tony. Tentatively. If Tony ended up abandoning him because he didn’t understand or didn’t care or wasn’t a species capable of love or affection or honour, Bucky would survive that. The shame of failing his people was survivable. He’d done it before.

With a pointed look the officiant indicated where he should stand. Bucky took his place forming the second point of a triangle with the officiant at it’s head. Not knowing any better, Tony stayed with him. A meaningful look pulled over the officiant’s face which Tony either failed to understand or chose to ignore. 

There were over eight thousand people in this room. Every one of them knew what was about to happen, that Bucky was about to be offered to another species with little more than a by your leave. And instead of worrying about that, Bucky was caught in a silent staring war with his sister’s senior marriage official because she didn’t want to break the long standing custom of not speaking before the ceremony began. 

Slow, Bucky reminded himself when laughter almost overtook him. This needed to go as well as it could.

The murmur of the crowd grew louder, stealing Bucky’s moment of levity. He tried to push everything out of himself. He loved his sister, and his people. He would do this for them. 

He cut his eyes over to see that Tony still hadn’t settled. His bare fingers twitched freely and his eyes roamed over everything—Shamefully, a fresh wave of heat rolled over Bucky. He was _interested_ in Tony.

The officiant was speaking and Bucky had run out of time to myopically examine the situation. Looking at his sister, he mentally begged her to turn away. She wouldn’t, not with this many Aldori here. Not with Hydra and the war and the survival of her people at stake. Not as queen.

There were no statuses to be joined, there were no family names to consider. In the eyes of Bucky’s people, he was being given away. His standing would remain in limbo and the name Stark would be added to his own. There would be no exchange. The officiant, having already chosen the shortest and least flowery of bindings, spoke faster under the watchful gaze of his sister.

“And so we bind our two peoples together. Tony Stark, welcome to the Aldori. May this contract and this binding bear fruit.”

Tony stood before Bucky, hands bare as the day he was born, and the world narrowed down like Bucky was behind the scope of his rifle. There were no people, there was no pressure. There was only Tony, ridiculous, human alien, _winking_ at him like this was nothing to worry about. Tony who’d promised to take care of him. 

Bucky tried to fathom it, being from another species entirely, reading a single line or a paragraph about what all this meant. Would he be able to act like Tony? What if Tony’s people didn’t have marriages? What if he didn’t understand they were permanent? 

What if he didn’t care? What if he was old for his species and expected to die? What if he was young and would far outlive Bucky?

“Hey, Terminator.” 

“What?” 

“It’s an old earth movie reference. You’ve got—” Tony gestured to his own face “—murder focus going on. C’mon, what did I say? I’ll take care of you.”

Tony nodded at Bucky’s shoulder where a buzzing alerted him to Tiffany’s return. “Plus I kind of think the moment is upon us here so… do you want to do the big reveal or should I?” 

Bucky stared at his sleeve. He couldn’t do this.

His arm twitched forward. He’d meant to lift his own sleeve, to present himself to Tony with the only dignity left to him. But he moved so jerkily Tony must have taken it for permission instead of the aborted movement it was. He reached for Bucky’s left sleeve. That wasn’t right, he’d checked all the videos. Shit, his cheeks were heating. 

“No,” Bucky said, pulling his hand and sleeve back. The room must have reacted, but all he could hear was the high whine after an explosive went off. “You don’t need that one.”

“I was hoping to see.” Tony gestured at Bucky’s arm with his naked, perfect, flesh hand. “The articulation is impressive. How does it—”

“No.” 

Tony was a stranger. Bucky didn’t know him, he could ignore Bucky’s request and Bucky would have no recourse. This—

Tony winked at him. Again. 

“Sure thing snowflake. These robes are something special. Very flattering. The arm’s a hard no, got it. So…” Tony held his hands out. His intent clear.

Bucky lifted his hand. Tony was going to unveil him. If anything about this had been normal, if Tony was Aldori, this would have happened behind closed doors. Bucky would have been accepting Tony’s advances. If they’d been alone and Tony was asking to push back Bucky’s sleeves—

It occurred to Bucky there might be a reason the formal robes he’d worn all his life were so heavy. Just like yesterday, it was preserving whatever minor modesty he was going to have left after this. 

Tony slipped his hands up the belled end of Bucky’s sleeve and then stopped. 

It was so gauche. Bucky had never been so turned on in his life. Both hands, right up his sleeve. 

Time eked past. 

When Bucky nodded, Tony pulled the heavy fabric wide before flipping it over Bucky’s wrist. Just like that, Bucky was bared to the world. He hadn’t blushed in years, was out of practice. His face burned with it. There wasn’t enough to go around between his cheeks and… other areas. 

His hand trembled into a fist. Air, unobstructed, brushed over his knuckles, chilling his skin, he hadn’t expected—

But then Tony was there, just like he said he’d be. 

“This isn’t going well for you, is it?” His voice was low enough not to be overheard. “That’s all right. I’ve got you. Relax a little. Breathe.”

Bucky felt the warmth of Tony’s hand, the promise of it where they hadn’t quite touched. 

“There you go. That’s it.” 

And then Tony’s fingers pressed against Bucky’s.

They were rough, and it ripped Bucky’s focus away from everything else. Tony’s skin caressed along his, the warmth of his palm brushing against Bucky’s frozen fingers. Hot lines swept down Bucky’s palm as Tony’s fingers coasted over his flesh. The contrast between their hands faded, becoming subtler, smoother. Tony’s fingers pressed snug against the back of his hand. Fine tremors travelled out from Bucky’s wrist. A prickling sensation rushed over him from ears to toes. It was soft, tender—

Tony’s grip pulled tight. Bucky was supposed to be doing something. ‘Maybe some pump action’ swam through his mind in Tony’s warm voice and he blushed harder. 

Tony’s hand was so _stiff._

Stardust… 

Bucky liked it. 

Tony’s thumb brushed over the back of Bucky’s hand. _The thumb thing._ A frisson of pleasure soared up his arm. Curling instinctively, his own fingers stroked over Tony, petting him _._ Tony squeezed back, pressing firmly until Bucky was aware of his own bones. Oh dust. Goosebumps raced up his neck, all his hair prickled upright. 

“Almost done, sweetheart.” Tony _squeezed_ him. Bucky could feel that everywhere. He clung back as best he could.

At that, Tony, did in fact, throw in some pump action _._ Star. Dust. Bucky was going to die. 

Just when it seemed like Tony had to let go—too soon, not yet—his other hand swept up to cover Bucky’s. He was shielded again, held and hidden in Tony’s hands.

Then he squeezed againandBucky’s vision temporarily whited out. Heat flashed over him and his muscles seized. 

Tony stepped to the side and Bucky was released though his hand was still wrapped with Tony’s. Limbs heavy and loose, he watched Tiffany sweep through the air. She would have an unobstructed view of him, limp and used. 


	4. Chapter 4

**SNAFU Is Back On The Menu**

Amongst tables stacked with hors d'oeuvres and soaring stone columns the Aldori moved and mixed. At least three separate groups mingled, socializing with each other. The jockeying for position and face time was disappointingly familiar and Tony prepped himself for a long night of handshaking and vague promises. Everything his mother had ever taught him about working a room crawled across the back of his mind. He couldn’t identify the subgroups amongst them after only a few hours but the instinct was there. 

Music from stringed instruments filled the air against the backdrop of a large crowd in dozens of discussions. His attention wandered from the group of Aldori he’d found himself surrounded by. They had an interesting way of pulling him into conversation, sidling up to him with questions and conversation starters free of eye contact. It made it easy for Tony to observe the political currents flowing around the rest of the room.

The military types, identifiable by their bearing—was that going to be true of any species they encountered?—had heavy leather sleeves that ran into heavy leather gloves and moved to and fro like orders to mingle had been issued. The group Tony pegged as commoners, more variety in their dress, their hands covered in all manner of gloves, placed themselves wherever they chose. The last group, the one that had the same long sleeves as Bucky, split, half to mingle in the crowds and half to hover at a slight remove around the queen.

Despite being royalty, she was easily pulled into conversation with various groups. She meted out smiles, waited patiently as her subjects spoke and, with a tilt of her head, moved along leaving each group happier than when she’d arrived. She put Tony’s skills to shame. 

Admirable though that was—she was keeping things from him. If Tony had to guess, the Aldori were at war. Too much military influence, too many military personnel, and Bucky had called himself a soldier. 

Returning his attention to the small group of people he’d been ignoring, Tony made his excuses and escaped. 

It didn’t last long. Tony hadn’t been able to move more than a few feet without being pulled into conversation the entire night and this time was no different. Three of the long-sleeved variety of Aldori and a woman in heavy military dress positioned themselves around him. There was a lot more eye contact going on than he’d come to expect. Something was different. This was a play.

“I’m glad you pulled me aside,” Tony yelled over the din. “No one else has been willing to spill on that arm. Unique is it? Is that what got Bucky discharged?” Twice already Tony had tried to bring up Bucky and his service, only to have the conversation die. This was his baldest attempt yet, but he didn’t expect answers and it was the only defence he had that didn’t put him at a disadvantage. 

Silence fell around them. Not just Tony’s group, but the one on his right and behind him as well. The arc in his chest warmed with Tony’s silent alarm. They’d surrounded him.

“We don’t really talk about the prince,” offered the Aldori to Tony’s left, which earned him dour looks from his companions. Tony had noticed that, but he wasn’t going to be able to leverage the loose-lipped Aldori in this company. 

“You’ll have to excuse me.” Tony craned his neck about at a sharp angle, knowing exactly where Bucky would be. He was leaving information on the table, but he needed an out and Bucky was eyeing up a slim, yellow clad Aldori. “Business—”

Tony hurried away from the small group as though that was sufficient explanation and slipped in next to Bucky. 

“Like what you see?” 

“Depends,” Bucky turned to face him, voice quiet enough it should have been lost to the crowd. “Did you know I’d look at you when you asked?”

“Bet you say that to all the humans.” 

That was the wrong thing to say. Definitely. That had incident written all over it.

“Every human I’ve met.”

Tony was almost done. Another hour of keeping his mouth shut, and he’d be free, the difficult part behind him. He shouldn’t be standing here staring into Bucky’s eyes, but Bucky seemed unable to look elsewhere either. 

"I wasn't staring at her if that's why you’re here.” He tilted his head to the woman in yellow, reminding Tony what had drawn him over. “I'm jealous she gets to eat." 

The woman lifted an appetizer from her plate with delicate gloved fingers. Bucky raised his own covered hands. His voice was soft, but it carried easily to Tony’s ear. “We don’t eat in public.” 

He swept his arm out to encompass the crowd that for the first time that night wasn’t looking at Tony. He was right. Gloved hands everywhere held tiny plates covered in tiny kabob like snacks, and hard sweet confections that kept the Aldori’s gloved hands neat.

“Privilege of rank.” Bucky’s mouth twisted up in a bitter little curl. “I’d prefer a full belly.”

“Hold that thought.” 

Tony could fix that. He dodged and weaved, invisible now that he’d been speaking with Bucky. 

His return with a plate full of small finger foods, most of them on dainty sticks, went just as smooth. “Quick, while everyone’s still ignoring us.” Tony held out one of the treats he’d pilfered, offering it to Bucky who leaned forward eyes intent. The delightful flush that had painted his cheeks while they shook hands made a return. Tony hadn’t thought this through. Even on Earth this would have been weird. What was he doing? 

With every bite Tony offered, warm breath rolled across his knuckles. Bucky was careful to make sure his lips never touched Tony’s fingers, but it didn’t matter. Tony’s pulse slammed in his ears. 

The rest of the room never came back into focus. Bucky asked about Tiffany and Jarvis, what it had been like in the radiation belt, if Tony missed home. Tony wanted to know about Aldori ships and weaponry, how—and why—they’d moved such heavy materials into space, if he could see the Aldori homeworld. Bucky deflected with the explanation of Bonding Tony had wanted and Tony hedged with an explanation of light ribboning. 

“Experimental technology.” Tony said.

“Was it dangerous?” 

“Not too dangerous. I built it. Though I suppose running it for fourteen hours just to get here to…shake your hand, could have resulted in a temporary black hole event.” Bucky grew very still. “The event horizon should have been self collapsing! No one but Jarvis and the bots and I would have been consumed in our destruction.”

“You did all that just to meet me?” Bucky asked so faintly Tony didn’t even see his lips move. Maybe the constitution of his people wasn’t quite up to par with humans. Bucky looked piqued again.

At some cue Tony didn’t recognize the room began to empty out. Bucky said goodnight and left Tony with directions to his rooms in the palace.

Tony watched him leave. 

“Like what you see?” A feminine voice asked from his shoulder. 

He was so distracted, he’d been ambushed by the queen. Rhodey would never let him forget it. She’d managed to ditch her advisors which was both surprising and a shame. He’d much rather face off against them again. 

“Not if it’s going to cause an intergalactic incident. I have very strict instructions not to do that.” 

The queen laughed. Of all the things he’d seen her do tonight that was a new one. “You didn’t seem very worried about that earlier.” 

“That bad, huh?”

“There was a sudden bout of syncope among my senior advisors when you began feeding him from your hands.”

“Bucky started it?” Rhodey was going to end him.

She arched a brow at him. 

“Purely hypothetical—What would it take to make that go away?” 

Tony found himself idly searching the thinning crowd for Bucky’s elaborately braided hair, the glint of metal at his shoulder.

“Agree to an exchange tonight. Give me answers and I’ll give you the same. We can move on to material matters tomorrow.” She paused. “We have until my advisors realize I did not leave with them.”

That was as good an opening as any and if Tony was right, she couldn’t afford to take offence.

“How goes the war?”

“We are losing if you believe my political advisors. Stalemated if you believe the military.”

She didn’t sugar coat or dodge. A new species at the doorstep must look like doom or salvation.

“What is in store for you and ‘Bucky?’” She gestured to his retreating back. There was too much emphasis on the way she said his name. Tony wasn’t ready for this. Large moves by big players had been happening all night and Tony was beginning to suspect he was in the middle of another one.

“No plans here.” His tone was light, but a line still formed between her brows. “Was I supposed to have plans for him?” 

“He should go with you, of course. He is the perfect choice for ambassador.” 

Tony tried to picture Bucky sharing space with him on Jarvis. Jarvis wasn’t overly large, and even if Tony light ribboned everywhere there would be days spent together, weeks at normal speeds. 

“Take care of him,” she said, as though it had been decided.

“Why?” Tony asked. He knew that was a mistake. Their time was limited and he should be digging for information Rhodey didn’t have, but questions about Bucky kept rising to displace those Tony should be asking.

“I sent him into the war.”

Tony found Bucky easily in the crowd, caught in a conversation in the outermost ring of guests.

“He didn’t have to serve. He could have died. I could have lost—” she cleared her throat, “I tried. If he’d climbed through the ranks—easy to do when it’s wartime they said, easy to do for someone so skilled and clever.” 

Tony dragged his eyes away from Bucky and followed the fixed line of her gaze locked on the approach of her advisors.

“He would have been able to choose his own spouse.”

That was pointed. It wasn’t up to Bucky who he liked. He was off limits. Check. Anymore flirting and they were back to incident territory.

“We’ll continue this another time.”

With that she left, Bucky slipped out of the room, and Tony went in search of something to drink.

\-----

**HEARTEYES MOTHERFUCKER**

Pulling free of the crowds had been a nightmare. No one wanted to meet his eyes after all they’d seen of him, but they weren’t eager to let him leave either. Bucky had ended up adjacent to but ignored by a constant stream of people. Most of them he couldn’t avoid. However, by refusing to look at him, they made themselves easy to politely dodge.

The back streets to his private rooms were abandoned. He knew that the way he used to know just how and when to take the shot. The feel, the look, the sound—since the spike, he was always right about things like that. He hurried anyway. Steve had promised not to come, but he would be waiting now that it was done.

Warmth suffused him. This was the first time he’d left an event with a full stomach. Tony had absolutely no shame, roving from table to table, charm on full display as he snapped up the best treats for Bucky to eat from his bare fingers. The night would have ended in chaos and outrage if it hadn’t been their wedding. 

Bucky pressed the cool silk of his sleeves to his cheeks. He’d blushed more in the last few hours than he had in the last few years, but the memory of Tony’s fingers coming up to his mouth, barely missing his lips over and over again, had heat crawling across his cheeks and down his neck.

What was he going to do about him? Did Tony know to follow him? Would he be able to follow the directions to Bucky’s apartments? And what would Bucky do if he did? He needed to relax, Tony couldn’t know. Whatever Becca had sent to him, it wouldn’t include marriage night traditions. It was silly anyway, both outcomes were desirable, and even if Tony didn’t understand, the fiction that he respected Bucky was a welcome one.

“Steve,” he shouted as he slammed through his front door.

Oblivious to Bucky’s giddiness, Steve looked him over carefully. Bucky didn’t have the patience for Steve to be huffy about Bucky being ‘tarnished.’ He was too busy being a happy glowing mess, thank you very much. His best friend could deal with it. 

Bucky swanned past Steve, turning deliberately towards his bedroom.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Steve asked. He knew how this usually went. Bucky should be tearing the kitchen apart. 

“He fed me!” Bucky crowed, twirling around so he could walk backwards and watch Steve react. 

He did not disappoint. “With his hands? And you _let_ him?” His voice got progressively quieter until he was whisper-hissing at Bucky across the room.

Bucky rolled his eyes and then almost his ankles when he caught his heel on his own dusted sleeves. Now he was the one regressing to childhood. Aliens were clearly trouble for his whole family line.

He beckoned Steve to follow and then scooped up his sleeves like he was a child again. It made it easier to hustle them both into his bedroom where he could collapse on the bed and press their cool silk against his cheeks again.

“What happened?” The mattress shifted under Steve’s weight.

“He shook my hand to within an inch of my life.” Bucky flopped his sleeves away from his face and stared dreamily at the ceiling. “His hands, Steve, his _hands_.” 

A pillow hit Bucky in the face. Steve was laughing. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Dust. He was so gentle.” Bucky cut his eyes over to Steve. “At first.” 

“Fine, you shook his hand—in public—and let everyone see you. I don’t need you to tell me about it.”

“No. You do. You really do.” 

“Jerk. What was he like?”

 _“_ He works with his hands. Built his own spaceship to travel the stars. It knows what starlight tastes like. He…told me he’d take care of me.” 

Steve looked at him, horrified. 

“It was nice!” Bucky defended and then rushed to add, “And then his fingers slipped up my sleeve and all I could think about—” 

This time it was Steve’s gloved hand that pressed into Bucky’s face mashing his lips together and crushing his nose. It took almost tipping Steve off the bed before he relented and pulled his hand back. Bucky twisted his sleeves together and bided his time. It looked innocent, but if Steve came for his face again he’d be prepared.

“He makes things that think for themselves. I met one. Pissed her off with the first thing I said.” Bucky grinned. “Guess I know what it’s like to be you now.”

Steve must have figured out Bucky’s trap, kicking him halfheartedly in the ankle instead.

“His hand was so warm.” Bucky pressed his own hand into the mattress. He wanted to run his other hand over it, chase the memory of heat, but the metal would ruin it.

“After our fingers were wrapped around each other,” Bucky said, firmly reaching for the zingy effervescent feeling that had carried him through the rest of the night. “He swept his thumb over the back of my hand. It was so… I know why we cover them—”

Bucky held his covered hand out in front of him like he could see its sensitivity through the heavy fabric. “But I didn’t know it would be like that.”

It was over. Bucky expected to sink into the relief of that, but now that he’d met Tony… he wanted to keep him properly. It had been worse than he’d thought, but so much better than he could have imagined.

“He squeezed my hand,” Bucky said, feeling like himself for the first time since he’d mustered out.

“He did not.”

Bucky grinned, full of teeth and cocksure energy and post contact high. “Gave it some pump action.”

“ _In public_.” Steve’s face screwed up. That was almost as delightful as the heavy warmth suffusing Bucky. He felt calm and centered in a way he couldn’t remember having been for a while.

Maybe he’d just needed a really good handshaking. Maybe he just needed to have everything put in perspective. He’d been so twisted up after coming back that he’d felt like he’d freeze solid from all the things he wasn’t, the things he shouldn’tdo, the things he _couldn’t_.

Now it felt like the opposite was true. Anything was possible.

“I think he likes me,” Bucky said, only half aware of how far away he sounded. Sleep pulled him under. The faint new happiness fuzzing inside him was too distracting. 

He smiled and the last dregs of tension, and stress, and fear sluiced away. The drop into sleep was sudden and he was more aware of it than usual, but then he was gone. Warm and happy and probably still smiling like an idiot.

Just a few minutes and Bucky would rouse himself. He didn’t want anything to ruin it if Tony came.


	5. Chapter 5

**I’m Kind Of A Big Deal**

Tony slipped out onto the darkened promenade, eluding what looked like another armed escort. Aldori had been staring at him all night, and he’d had enough. 

There hadn’t been any other handshaking the rest of the evening. Something about that was off; it niggled at him. Not having to glad hand at something that felt like a fundraiser was a relief, even though Tony didn’t know anyone in this universe and had no causes to raise funds for.

The peanut-like things he’d swiped on his way out were making him both sleepy and thirsty. He was forgetting something, but whatever it was pinged off the fuzzy happiness of the peanuts. Every time he reached for it a hazy warmth that felt like affection pulled him back. These peanuts were amazing.

He was going to… right, Jarvis was alone in the docking bay. This definitely wasn’t the way he’d been led in. Empty hawkers booths leaned menacingly into the wide avenue interrupted by a single eye-catching riot of colour that was still manned. 

Drawn towards it, Tony swept his arm in the motion that called Tiffany. He had to fix the comms. Step two. That was the plan. And Tiffany could lead him to Jarvis.

When she didn’t immediately appear, Tony tried to repeat the motion. It was a bit jerky—Maybe Tony should lay off the peanuts—but Tiffany tumbled free, her expressive light arrays arranged in high arches like eyebrows curved in indignant inquiry. Technically, he wasn’t even drinking. He didn’t deserve her judgement. No one had warned him Aldori peanuts hit like salty tequila.

“Don’t give me that attitude. Ping Jarvis for me will you? I’m not in the mood for autographs tonight.” Tony tilted his head down the street. He was pretty sure someone was tagging along. If so, Tiffany’s thermal infrared lenses would pick them up. 

Dropping her antenna, she zipped ahead. The wobbly bobbing motion she added to her flight confirmed Tony’s suspicions. He was being followed. A snap of electricity ran down her antenna. 

“Now, now,” Tony called ahead, “you know what happens when you go all Ultron-y.”

Another wave of warmth swept over him, inexplicably, it felt fond.

Tony slowed as he approached the illuminated booth. Being unpredictable was one of the few assets he had against what was likely an over-excited party guest trying to get some one-on-one time with the new alien. 

Swatches of fabric in every colour bloomed around the ancient vendor. The only interruptions were a series of symbols divided into groups.

“What’s all this?” Tony asked, offering the vendor some peanuts. They were a little warm from sitting in his hand, but they shouldn’t be too bad. 

She waved him off, which was a shame. Tony could hold his liquor, but he wasn’t prepared for the full-bodied love-in that getting drunk on Aldori nuts seemed to be.

“The language of loyalties is complex. I hadn’t intended to stand here all night.”

He inspected the goods, eyes landing on a familiar star. “I know that one. It was everywhere tonight.” Bucky wore that symbol.

A cascade of warmth rushed over him at the thought of Bucky. That was a bad sign. Tony was a realist and relationships were not his strong suit. Relationships with a member of a brand new species were definitely off limits.

The wrinkles on her lips and cheeks pulled back until she was smiling at him. “You have been very good for business. Been all anyone’s wanted to talk about. That’s our prince’s symbol, you met him tonight.” 

“Prince James?”There had been a lot of information on the royal family and plenty about a Prince James, but he’d only been introduced to one royal and no Jameses.

“Indeed.” Her mouth pinched into a tight collapse. “Bit sad that one. Sold a lot more before he came home.” She fiddled with her sleeve, pulling at the place the hem met her glove. It rotated her arm enough that he noticed she wore the prince’s symbol, older than any he’d seen at the party and well used.

A sharp jab to his forearm stopped Tony from asking more. Tiffany hovered by his arm waving the opposable end of her antenna at Tony’s watch. “I give you one task and suddenly you’re in charge, huh? Secretary mode, please. I need you for a few minutes.”

He pointed to a shield draped in thorns above Bucky’s symbol. “And that one?”

“Reckon you met her too. His sister, the queen. May she shield the weak, raise up the downtrodden, and triumph in war.”

“Sounds ritualistic.”

“It’s an old sayin’, not much in use anymore. Now it’s more common to hear people rally to the banner than the queen.” She jerked her thumb at a crown, lovely but lacking personality when compared to the others. “S’not right, but I hold my piece.” 

“And the other side?” Tony gestured to the much busier wall.

“Our great enemies. The Chitauri—” she gestured to a symbol that looked like teeth “—they stole our home from us and took two of my grandchildren.” She paused for a long time before moving her shaking hand over to a many-tentacled skull. “Hydra. The ancient rot at the heart of the Aldori. We chased them out once. Long ago. Now we wear their symbols to show our hatred, though some would sue for peace. Fools. Since we were also run into the stars they’ve come back to hunt us with their spikes.” 

She looked at Tony meaningfully. “They say that’s what happened to the prince.” 

Out of his depth, Tony had no idea what to do with that information. If it even was information. What did this vendor know? What did ‘with their spikes’ mean? He dropped more peanuts into his mouth. Rhodey should have sent a spook. Tony just wanted to fix Jarvis’ comms and mourn the queen making it clear Bucky was off limits, not play spy vs. spy and dodge Aldori stalkers. 

“The red one you’ve got your eye on could stand for war almost all on it’s own, just as often it means dedication, also marriage—the literal kind—or to an idea.”

“So they can be misinterpreted?” At her nod, Tony continued. “White?”

“Purity, virginity maybe, untouched or uncommitted. For someone like you, it could mean ‘apart from’—Xenophobes like white.”

“Well that’s no good.” 

The vendor walked Tony through a few other colours. 

“The gold?” It was ostentatious, it was eye catching, it was perfect. 

“Fecundity,” she replied, “trade, prosperity, expansion, babies, that kind of thing.” 

“I’m sold,” Tony said, “I want one. I need it. Get me the star on red and gold—wait. What do you guys use for money? Don’t give me that look. I’m an alien not a thief.” 

She didn’t look convinced. 

“Maybe I could interest you in a watch? Built it myself. Stops panic attacks, allows me to contact my ship when I’m away, keeps time. I’d have to give it a new name if it didn’t keep time.”

Tony pulled the watch off, flipping it over. “Annnnnd—”

Tiffany spun her little body, vibrating over her small home. 

“I’ll build you a new one sweetheart, Daddy’s got an idea.” He pointed at the small red bulb on the side of the watch. “For emergencies it has a high density, light focused whaling beam. Cuts through the majority of known substances. Back on Earth this thing is worth millions. That sounds like bragging. It kind of is. Will it get me an armband?”

Tony missed her answer. Goosebumps broke out across his skin. In live technicolour Tony was shaking Bucky’s hand again, all the colour drained from his face for a second time. Then Bucky’s mouth opened waiting for Tony to—

The vendor cut in. “You give me five minutes and I’ll have one made up for you.”

“Square deal.” Tony set the watch down on the counter. He needed to go a bit easier on the peanuts. That had felt real. For a moment he’d felt—Bucky’s breath hot against his fingers, if he dawdled too long they’d start to grow moist. Still, Tony hesitated. With colour in his cheeks, Bucky gave in and leaned forward to pull the bite-sized snack from Tony’s grasp.

A piercing sound split the air. The vendor cut off her whistle. “Did you want this or not?”

Tony accepted the ring of fabric. It was about a hand long, mostly red with gold swatches, the prince’s star picked out in the middle.

“Wait,” she called, laughter thick in her tone, “I can’t let you walk around not knowing. I figure you understand you’ve declared for the prince. That’s nice and all. But that there’s going to look a bit like your people are interested in interspecies fornicating.”

A picture of Bucky appeared in Tony’s mind. A slow wave of something soft and sleepy rolled down his back like a reward. 

Tony’s attention snapped back. “It’s perfect. These are my colours.” 

“Go be a nuisance then. Don’t think I didn’t notice you’re under the influence.”

“I knew these peanuts were more than they seemed—which reminds me—don’t touch the little green button. Experimental wormhole technology.”

Even with her heavily lined face, her confusion as Tony walked away was obvious.

\-----

**They Didn’t Cover This In Intro To Bio**

“Jarvis, you hungry?” Tony walked onto the bridge as Jarvis brought the lights up to low ebb and opened one of his charging cradles. Buzzing softly to Jarvis, Tiffany descended into it. 

“You rest sweetheart.” His jaw cracked on a yawn. “We’ve all had a long day.”

Fix the comm systems, rein in the nanites, then build Tiffany a new watch. Without one she’d run constantly with only artificial light to charge from. Unarmed in unknown space was not an experience Tony was eager to relive.

“As for my energy reserves, I am not yet in any distress. I’m sure you recall that I can last the equivalent of thirty-seven Earth hours without access to a system’s sun. Longer if I remain silent and dark.”

“I don’t like it, we need to increase your reservoir. And don’t think I missed that dig. The cute Aldori wants to meet you too.”

“This would be the cute Aldori you purchased allegiance declaring garments for before trading away your primary means of self protection and remote communication with me?”

“Guess you had to be there.” At the reminder, he pulled the armband from his pocket and slipped it on. “What do you think?” 

“Lovely, sir, certainly worth exchanging your personal safety.” 

“Glad we’re on the same page.” Tony didn’t feel particularly unsafe with the Aldori, but something was up with the queen’s councillors. “Back to your reservoirs. What jackass made them so small?”

“A mystery for the ages, sir. You were concerned it would be a burden in the radiation belt.”

“That was before we discovered alien life and possibly sentient rocks. Now we’re bunkered up here and you can’t get a peep at the good stuff.” He pushed an oscilloscope aside, reaching for the panel Jarvis’ broadcast core rested behind. 

“Ah.” A heady warmth crawled over his scalp and small pinpricks burst across his skin. Tony sat down. The oscilloscope teetered on the edge of the console before it toppled to join him on the floor. Tingling lines ran down his spine and a soft, gently affectionate weight pressed down on him. 

“Might I point out that according to Tiffany’s data, you have had six hours of sleep in the last fifty-two?”

Bucky had small crinkles next to his eyes when he smiled. They stood out the most when he tried to hide his happiness. 

“—sir?”

“What’s it like eating starlight, J? Bucky said—” Tony let himself tip sideways, “If you need me…”

“Sir.” Tony was awake, but he couldn’t remember falling asleep or why he’d do it on the floor.

“Sir, we have received a package from Colonel Rhodes. It was date-stamped two days ago.”

“z’it?”

“Sir?”

“Is it important?”

“Colonel Rhodes has marked it urgent. However, I must confess my concerns over your state are more immediate. Breathing, respiratory patterns, and brain activity all suggest you are still asleep.”

“I’m up, I’m up. What does Rhodey want?” Tony dug the heel of his hand into his eye. Maybe if he pushed hard enough he could force his brain out of the strangely pleasant lethargy that clung to him. “ Did we get your communications delay fixed?”

“No attempt was made. You arrived back at the ship, made a few declarations and then fell asleep on the floor mumbling about quantum entanglement and starlight.”

Well… that could have gone better. “Okay, hit me with the Rhodey package and then we’ll give him a call.”

Only one screen popped up this time. Rhodey’s words sprawled out in all caps. 

CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF THE ALIENS.

“That’s alarming. Is that it?”

“I have loaded the audio attachment.” 

“Tony, I swear to god, if you have just been fucking off for the last three days—The queen sent new information. I don’t know why it wasn’t in the first batch. Handshaking is a big deal for them. A really big deal.” Tony saluted Jarvis’ closest speaker, turning to get his hands on the broadcast core, he’d worked that out already. “Don’t touch anyone. Especially don’t touch the brother, James, they want an alliance through marriage.” 

The taste of hot metal flooded Tony’s mouth. He wasn’t sure exactly what had happened. One minute he’d been staring at a bit of light reflecting off one of Jarvis’ exposed struts, the next the arc was in an absolute panic.

“Jarvis, if he ignores this you have my permission to abduct him and drag him back here. Damn it Tony, only you.”

Tony slid back down to the ground. Standing was definitely overrated. The arc was still giving off buzzy little frissons of concern. Tony rested his hand over it’s sparking warmth. “We’re okay, We’re okay. No one’s getting stealth married.”

“—We agreed to the handshake, we sent them records of what official agreements look like between humans. They said nothing. Nothing, Tony. Just made a lot of weird requests for more footage. We were asking for a lot of shit too, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

Jarvis dimmed the lights down low enough that Tony couldn’t see the the bulkhead of the ship anymore. The hum that usually accompanied his normal operations hushed and the volume of Rhodey’s voice dropped by half. It felt like he was right next to Tony in the dark. 

“But it’s a marriage Tony. No handshaking. Fix whatever you broke and let me figure out an alternative. We still have five days before you’re supposed to get there.”

He wasn’t sure how long he spent on the floor staring into the dark. Before he asked, “When was the last time Rhodey played a prank on me?”

“The last time you and Colonel Rhodes were in the same physical location. Two years, seven months, and four days ago.” 

“So we’re due, right?”

“If I may point out—” 

“Is that going to be logic? I only want logic if it’s useful to me. Lie if you have to.”

“—it seems unlikely the Colonel would suddenly abandon his own rule against pranks while on duty.”

“The lies, Jarvis, where are the lies?”

\-----

**All I Have To Do Is Dream**

Warm chaos and bright piercing focus followed Bucky down and down. It stretched out in every direction. Curiosity wrapped around him, wonder and yearning and—

He slept.

Conflicting ripples rose to the surface of Bucky’s dream. He reached down to stay immersed in the pleasant feeling, but a rising tide of emotion pushed him up to wakefulness. 

There was a tiny burning thing deep in his mind. Why? He floated, half aware. Beneath him, the blankets were nothing, his awareness of anything other than the vestiges of soft and warm and welcome was dim.

A memory of buzzing interest bubbled up. It made him think of…

Bucky bolted upright. His heart railed against his ribcage.

Oh shit, oh _shit_. That feeling at the back of his mind, warm and soft and caring, that wasn’t a dream or a memory. And now it didn’t matter because the hot thing moving towards him wasn’t soft or warm.

What happened? There had been vast sparking inquisitiveness, then contentment. Then _shock._

Adrenaline flooded his system and fear drove him out of his bed.

No, _dust, no._ Bucky had somehow bonded with the human. Tony Stark was… was that anger? Confusion? Something smaller and shamed—embarrassed?—and he was coming. 

Bucky stumbled towards his door. His grogginess was fading, but that wasn’t going to be enough to deal with the burning line that Tony blazed toward him.

How was he doing that? There hadn’t been anything about humans forming Aldori style bonds. 

Halfway to the door Bucky cursed. He couldn’t let Tony see him like this. If things had been different then Tony would be coming to…

Bucky turned, then turned again. He didn’t have time to change. Tony would be here soon and he had to be ready to fix what he’d done.

Prepare for his anger.

And prepare to lose him. The thought _cut._ He was too attached. Too attached for the time they’d spent together. Not that the bond he’d formed—accidentally, because he was so embarrassingly needy that he formed a lifetime connection to the first person to touch his hands—had a concept of time.

Bucky didn’t want to let him go. He knew how pathetic that was.


	6. Chapter 6

**Honey I’m Home**

What had possessed Tony to leave Jarvis in the middle of the night? Where was he even going? Darkened Aldori streets passed him on either side, but he didn’t slow down.

The massive city-ship unsettled him more now than it had earlier. All the heavy building materials weighed on the Aldori ship with its false gravity. There were no metal walls with humming machinery and power behind them. The floors had no metal grating. His footsteps were muffled and wrong. Tony had been on ships so long, with Jarvis so long, that every echo was a conversation, the whirring and buzzing were signs of life. The Aldori ship felt… dead.

Worrying over the wrongness distracted Tony for long enough that when he next looked up, he realized that his blood was pounding in his ears and his vision had narrowed down to almost nothing. The street ran long and dark and silent in front of him. 

That didn’t matter because Bucky stood waiting for him, haloed in the light of a doorway as though he’d been expecting Tony’s arrival.

The sharp, tense thing in Tony’s chest eased, and he was able to breathe again. The light spilled into his eyes and the dark narrowing pulled back. On either side of the street blank windows hung empty and watching.

“You should come inside,” Bucky said, obvious signs of sleep clinging to his face, a small tentative smile waking up with the rest of him. His braids had come partially undone, and the darkness painted circles under his eyes leaving most of his face lost in shadow. He was beautiful and terrifying and if Tony had to marry an Aldori—he didn’t.

The path Tony had taken to get here was a blur. Nothing in this area looked familiar. Why had he come here? This wasn’t Bucky’s problem. He should have launched Jarvis back into the stars and run like hell.

Instead he followed Bucky inside, pulled along on the same gossamer thread that had led him here. 

“I didn’t know how much Becca sent to you, I didn’t know if you knew to come.” Bucky stopped talking, his eyes caught on Tony’s arm. “Is that my—?” 

“Your queen is going to—” Tony cut off. Bucky’s furniture was mundane, utilitarian, even if it didn’t belong on a spaceship. But the walls. Constellations Tony had never seen stretched across every available inch. Stars, clusters, multiple gravity well convergences. Some of this was too fantastical to exist, there couldn’t be—but that was home, right there, the cluster of stars that humanity had bloomed from. Tony moved towards it, shuffling around the end of a couch. “Where—?” 

What Bucky said finally penetrated Tony’s thoughts. 

Oh.

When would Tony learn that wishing for things only made them worse? The arc buzzed a low warning in his chest, the tinny tang of its distress spreading across his tongue.

“Steve painted it,” Bucky was saying but he sounded a long way away. “We used to send messages into the Trench. Sometimes we could see another galaxy through it.” His voice got even quieter. “I always wanted to go.” 

“When we met, you introduced yourself as Bucky.” Tony swallowed. His eyes landed on Bucky’s shoulder and got stuck. “That isn’t your whole name, is it?”

The hopeful, almost tentative smile dropped from Bucky’s mouth and a line appeared between his brows. “Tony?” 

Tony jolted through connections, doing the long division of the conclusion he already knew was right. Bucky was nobility, but was that all? Queen Rebecca had been trying to tell him something at dinner. Bucky referred to his queen by her first name. 

Tony wasn’t running from a marriage, he was already in one.

Bucky’s shoulder moved closer. “Can you look at me?”

“Anthony Edward Stark.” Tony held his hand out.

When Bucky moved to uncover his, Tony remembered and let his arm drop.

“I’m James Buchanan Aldorae. prince of the Aldori, sergeant of the Unified Front. My family name is Barnes.” 

He didn’t even sound the same. 

“I’ve gone by Bucky almost my whole life.”

Tony couldn’t meet Bucky’s eyes. He stared at the Sol system painstakingly recreated on Bucky’s wall. His treacherous eidetic memory taunted him with Bucky’s hopeful smile. 

A second image pushed away the first—Bucky’s breath lingering against Tony’s skin—he’d smiled before his tongue peeked out, taking the sweet thing from between Tony’s fingers.

He set his jaw. He knew how to do this, knew what had to be done. It should be easy to get Bucky to hate him enough to call this whole thing off. Tony had a talent for that.

Sorry Rhodey. 

\-----

**The Talk**

Tony’s stomach churned. What was he doing?

While Tony tried to figure out how to get Bucky to break up with him, Bucky slowly curled in on himself. The slump of his shoulders was dejection. Rejection.

Did Tony want to be a husband? Not wanting to stare down the vastness of space alone didn’t mean this, hoodwinked into some kind of service for a queen he barely knew. Married without his consent. 

He didn’t want the fledgling soft thing that had been born when Bucky had asked to meet Jarvis, bowing an apology to Tiffany, to disappear either. He definitely didn’t want what that said about him, that all it took was some interest in his bots and the promise that someone couldn’t leave to have Tony desperate to keep it.

“We should sit down,” Tony said, distant even to his own ears. If Bucky lived here it had a kitchen. Tony aimed for the room with the tiled floor he’d noticed before Bucky’s stars. Conversations like these were meant for kitchens. Fluorescent lights, the smell of old coffee, and Jarvis’ hands pouring boiling water over the Darjeeling.

“Speed dating.” Tony took his seat, forcefully wrenching himself from the pit of melancholy that yawned open inside him. Bucky carefully lowered himself across the small table from him. “I’ll ask the first question.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m asking the questions.”

“Of course you’d be bossy,” Bucky said softly. Tony reminded himself that he didn’t know the Aldori and the expressions on Bucky’s face couldn’t be what they seemed. Because that looked like fondness and resigned acceptance, and not at all like regret.

“James Buchanan Aldorae Barnes. Are you flirting with me?”

“As long as I can.” He wiped his sleeve over the back of his neck and looked away. “And it’s, Barnes Stark Aldorae—if you’re going to list them all.” 

“Nope, speed dating. Five minutes. After I fill out the form you can explain our ambush of a marriage to me.”

Tony ground his thumb against the cool stone edge of the tabletop. He’d intended to bull right through, blitz Bucky with questions, see if he could determine—what? If Bucky just wanted him to leave? Achievement unlocked, thanks for the name? 

“You didn’t have any more choice than I did.” The realization donned on him as he said it. He rolled the details over like he was trying to solve for X. Bucky was a prince, the Aldori were at war. They must be desperate. If humans made alliances through marriage like they had before space travel, Tony wouldn’t have risked a prince on an unknown species. So this was an honour. An honour with strings.

“I didn’t,” Bucky said. “But that’s not a question.”

“Why?”

“I went to war for my people. When we fall in conflict against Hydra we… get spiked.” Bucky pulled the sleeve on the metal arm back.

“Stop.”

He did, without hesitation, never meeting Tony’s eyes.

“Of course, sorry, I—” 

Tony pressed a finger into the heavy silk sitting on the table between them, holding it in place.“You didn’t want me to see it before.”

The fabric of Bucky’s sleeve tugged at Tony’s finger. He imagined Bucky clenching his fist. It was quiet enough he could hear the subtle sounds of the metal working. 

“It’s not something I want people to see.” 

Bucky’s other sleeved hand came to rest over the metal one. Tony could feel the heat of it where his finger still rested on the silk. “It’s a mark of our enemy. My sister and her advisors know it makes me untrustworthy. Unfit.” He ground his covered hands together. “They’re right. If you want to leave…” 

Tony tucked that away with all the other evidence. A prince yes, but one whose use was limited. 

Heat bloomed in the pit of his stomach. He could practically feel Bucky’s fatalistic acceptance, leaving his own anger was strangely distant.

“Becca said she sent you everything and when you got here so fast I thought—” Bucky gave a small unhappy shrug. 

Tony wasn’t sure what he was doing, but he brought his hands up to where the arc hummed in his chest. 

“What are you doing?” 

“You show me yours, I’ll show you mine.” Tony said, working at the front of his shirt. “I want you to know if I walk out of here it won’t have anything to do with you.” 

A disappointed curve of a smile dragged up one side of Bucky’s mouth. “Doesn’t feel that way.” 

Tony pulled at the gap he’d made in his shirt—tit for tat right? This didn’t have to mean anything—and he spread it wide enough to reveal the arc. 

“What is that?” Bucky breathed more than asked. His eyes were wide with wonder, bright in the soft glow coming from Tony’s chest. 

“I call it the arc.” It sent a bubbly thrill running through Tony’s chest. He’d never introduced the arc to anyone but Pepper, Rhodey and the bots. “We nearly died in a minor black-hole event. Had to fuse together to make it out.” 

Bucky didn’t look away from Tony’s chest but his eyebrows rose sardonically. “A light-ribboning accident?”

“Rude,” Tony said even though the arc fizzed happily at the joke. “What would you take with you to a deserted planet?”

“You don’t want…?” Bucky tilted his head at his arm.

“That’s your decision, Prince James, consent is sexy.” Tony hadn’t meant to make a point, but Bucky clearly hadn’t missed it.

Bucky ducked his head, but held his arm out. Instead of rolling back the sleeve, he pulled it loose from where it clung to his metal bicep, leaving it to pool on the floor. The arm was functional metal from his shoulder to his hand. Careful, impossible articulation formed the joints of life-like fingers. Bucky worked the wrist, rotating his hand and clenching it a few times.

“I don’t think that question’s gonna get you the answer you want. Aldorae is deserted. I’d take Steve—my best friend—and the rest of the unspiked commandos. But that doesn’t tell you anything. My sister sent me to the front. I was—not happy, but proud to go. I wanted to serve my people the best way that I could, and we're at war.” Light reflected off Bucky’s metal hand as he worked the fingers open and closed. “That’s not who I am. But it’s who I had to be.”

Tony sat with that for a minute. “Your sister said she sent you so you could choose your own spouse.”

Bucky leaned back in his seat. Tony could almost feel the torrent of emotions that swam through Bucky, every one of them painted on his face. “She never—” His throat clicked when he swallowed.

“Instead you’re stuck with me.”

Bucky slumped down lower in his seat. His pretty _marriage robes_ —how had Tony missed that?—bunched up. “You don’t seem like someone who settles for ‘stuck’.

“Why?” Tony asked. “Why are you?”

“That could take a while.”

“Great, I’m not going anywhere.” Tony crossed his arms, kicked his legs out and mimicked Bucky’s slump for emphasis.

Bucky winced. Tony knew beyond a shadow of a doubt—how?—that Bucky wanted him to mean that. 

Restlessness drove Tony out of his chair. Pacing wasn’t really his thing but it took him out of Bucky’s line of sight for a short while on each pass.

“We’re at war. Becca at least told you that much.” He said it like a statement, but he waited for Tony to confirm. “The Chitauri drove us from our home planet. Their numbers are massive and we’re lucky they aren’t intelligent.”

The heavy stone walkways, the wood panelling, even the table in front of Tony came into new focus. The materials didn’t belong, but they were all the Aldori had. There were no trips home. If there were supply runs they were probably covert. Every object he’d side-eyed was an heirloom, the last of its kind.

“Before the Chitauri, there was Hydra. We chased them off the planet centuries ago when they attempted a coup. After they were gone we discovered horrible experiments.” Bucky gestured with his metal hand. “Now that we’ve also been chased off Aldorae, they’re back. They capitalize on our skirmishes with the Chitauri and do this.”

Bucky’s fist clenched. Tony watched the ripple that sent through the whole arm, a series of shifting plates working out from the wrist and cascading up to his shoulder.

“If the spike hits center mass, it rewrites the nervous system. Penetrating the skin makes it liquid metal, then, if it reaches the brain, we’re gone, wiped away, and in our place is a thing that kills at the order of our enemies.” He paused. “Sometimes, the metal gets confused and left behind.”

“Can I touch it?” 

“I don’t usually let anyone.”

“I won’t if you don’t want me to.”

Bucky shrugged the metal shoulder. 

“Gonna need a clearer sign than that Bucko.”

Bucky ducked his head. A quick peek confirmed his suspicions, Bucky was smiling. Tony’s chest warmed.

Bucky shrugged his shoulder again. “Don’t make it talk to me or anything.”

\-----

**Hello From The Other Side**

Tony’s hands were gentle when they settled where the metal transitioned to flesh. The fleeting warmth of Tony’s fingers before they moved farther down the arm lit a fire in his brain.

Bucky dragged his thoughts back to the task at hand. Tony wanted to know why.

He’d brought up the arm, but he couldn’t force himself to make it any plainer that the arm was just the physical reminder to his people. He’d almost been turned against them. Most would never really trust him again and Bucky didn’t blame them 

“I grew up on the old stories.” Bucky started again. “Tales of lovers so smitten they saw stars rise in each other’s eyes. But I always knew that I would marry for political gain. Our parents told me early.”

He tried to smile. “I didn’t have ‘the natural disposition’ for it. I was loud and full of questions. I wanted to go everywhere and do everything. Know everything. It was a kindness, I think. Becca was the one who would inherit, and she would need me to be useful to her. She never said that.” Bucky looked up swiftly to make sure Tony didn’t get the wrong impression. “She got mad every time my parents brought it up. If I looked too boldly, talked too loudly, challenged anyone over anything. Nothing they could do, they were raising a queen and an asset.”

“Gotta say, that doesn’t sound like fun. Not that casa de Stark was winning any prizes.” Tony’s fingers no longer moved or shifted. The fingertips of one hand barely brushed the forearm while his other hand disappeared to tug at his hair. Bucky kept forgetting not to look. “Mom’s particular flavour of parenting was distressed indifference. Dad preferred disappointment.”

It was almost comfortable, the silence that followed. Hanging around them, finally dulling the edges of Bucky’s panic. 

“I guess Becca knew.” He tried to work it out. There’d been a short time when he wondered why Becca had changed her mind about Bucky fighting and sent him to the front. He’d never asked. He’d learned his lessons well. 

“I was always meant to serve my people and I don’t begrudge them a ruling family that puts their needs first. Married off for political gain is what I was meant for. Since this—” Bucky flexed his arm out and Tony’s fingers danced off the edge.

He returned to his seat across from Bucky, face pinched. Bucky couldn’t work out if he was winning him over or if he was displeased about something he saw.

“The short of it is, I always knew, and then the war changed that. And then the arm changed it again. For a little while I had brought so much shame to my people that I couldn’t be of use anymore. Then you arrived. I won’t abandon them, Becca or my people, so if it has to be someone… so far I’m glad it’s you.”

“What happens if I just leave.”

“Becca can’t afford another war. If you keep coming through the Trench, she’ll keep trying.”

“With you?”

“I”—Bucky hesitated—“no. I’m used.”

“Sounds like if I leave you’re free.”

“I’ve wanted that my whole life.” Bucky couldn’t believe he’d said that. It felt like the floor was gone from under his chair. There was nothing—Without thought he reached for the sense of focus that lay at the center of Tony’s agitated emotions. It was an instinct he shouldn’t have had time to form. He needed to stop. There was no way Tony could want him here even if it felt like all this anger and frustration was for Bucky and not aimed at him.

“All right.” Tony stood up, pulling Bucky’s attention with him. This morning this would have been everything he wanted. But— 

“We could still use your help.”

“Yeah, sure, easy. Not my call, but I’ll put in a good word. Rhodey’s—”

No. That wasn’t enough. If Tony left, so did any chance Bucky had of keeping him. “I’d try. For you.” 

“Why?” 

Oh, _oh_. Bucky didn’t even need the bond for this, Tony’s posture was rigid, his voice tight. What the bond did give him was doubt and, squashed beneath it, pain. He’d done a lot of talking, but what did that have to do with Tony?

“Whenever I’m in the room you look at me.” The fingers of his metal hand ticked over his thumb, he wished he still had his sleeve. “You made a bot that learned to blush. You were ready to introduce me to your ship that talks.” Bucky forced himself to look Tony in the eye. “When I was afraid, you noticed and offered to take care of me. When I was hungry you fed me.” Bucky did not need to be blushing now. “We… shook hands.”

“That last one’s a little weak,” Tony said, sounding weak himself. Bucky was winning. 

“You’ve seen stars I’ve never seen, found a way through a barrier in space no one else has ever crossed.”

Bucky didn’t know what changed. Tony’s emotions had been unfolding, leaving behind the pinched feeling that came with them, practically slinking as they rolled open. Now they were all seized up, the pinched feel was back and all Bucky could detect was suspicion.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Bucky swallowed past the obstruction in his throat. He owed Tony the truth. But how could he tell Tony that he’d done worse than just marry him? 

“How did you find me?” Bucky asked. 

“I—” Tony’s body twisted like he was going to look away but his eyes stayed on Bucky. Slowly the space between his brows furrowed. “—where are we?”

His eyes did leave Bucky’s then. They skittered around the room before resting on the door that led back to the street.

Bucky could feel Tony’s growing alarm. He hadn’t meant to make this worse. Tony was so smart, Bucky thought he might work it out on his own.

“I didn’t mean to. I’ve never done it before. It’s not supposed to be that easy.”

“What are we talking about here?”

“Bonding. We bonded. When we shook hands. It shouldn’t have been that easy, I didn’t even notice.” Bucky pushed to his feet so he could look directly at Tony. “It was a mistake. I’m sorry. You just—you took my hand and everything happened so fast and you were doing what you said you would. Trying to take care of everything and I think I… I think I needed you and you were right there.”

When he reached out to ask for forgiveness his metal hand joined his good hand. He pulled it back, but it was so exposed and obvious and uncovered. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you saying?”

“I can tell how upset you are.”

“I’m not upset.”

He stared at Tony.

“Hey, I’m not the one who just said he could read my feelings. Can you do it or not.”

“I, it’s new. When you feel something strong it seems to come through but it—” 

“So?”

“I”—Bucky hadn’t ever done that before. Except for when he’d reached without knowing how, he’d only been receiving what Tony was pushing at him. He tried. Reaching for—“oh.”

Tony’s face shuttered. Again Bucky didn’t know what happened, Tony’s emotions were still turbulent, but there’d been a soft place on the other end of the bond, like he wanted Bucky, and now there was just… nothing

“Turn it off.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Then kill it. I’m—I—”

Tony walked away. It took everything Bucky had not to throw his body between Tony and the door. Tony hadn’t asked for any of this. He _should_ leave.

Tony yanked the door open but he didn’t pass through.

“Tony—”

A soft click followed Tony leaving. He didn’t even slam the door. Bucky couldn’t feel anything from him. Just a towering nothing where he should be.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when Steve’s voice came from behind him. “Do you want me to go after him?”

“What would you say?” That wasn’t the right answer. The right answer was something like: ‘he needs some space.’ But Bucky didn’t know that, he didn’t know Tony at all. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough.”

“What does that mean?”

“You like him. Why else tell him all that stuff?” Steve walked over and laid a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “Go to sleep, Buck. We’ll fix it in the morning.”

Steve was right, but it was a long time before Bucky turned away from the door. When he did, Steve was still there. 

What a difference a few hours made. This morning he’d never met a human. A few hours ago he’d been married and rushing through this same room with stars in his eyes. Now—

Now.


	7. Chapter 7

**Back In The Saddle Again**

“Sir, we appear to have visitors.”

Tony glanced back down the ramp. Maybe Bucky—no, those were the same Aldori who’d tried to ambush him at dinner.

“I don’t think so J. Flaps up, we’re out of this tin can. You’ve got a lunch date and I need to fix this damn delay so I can talk to Rhodey.”

“Mr. Stark! I’ve been looking forward to getting a moment of your time.” The Aldori who spoke was an older white man with sandy blond hair and an air of authority. 

“Tell him to fuck off, J.”

“Sir, are you forgetting your agreement with Colonel Rhodes?”

“Fine. But we’re not stopping.” Tony retreated more fully into Jarvis’ body before calling back. “Who are you?”

“My name is Alex—”

“Look, I don’t know you. Meet and greets with Aldori haven’t gone well for me. But hey, guess what, I have a husband now.” Tony slapped the band on his arm. “Maybe he can pencil you in.”

Jarvis lifted them out of the grav links and piloted them free of Bucky’s home. 

“They seem to have taken that quite well.”

“Check in with me tomorrow. Maybe then I’ll care.”

The giant Aldori city-ship loomed over Jarvis. Tony hadn’t been here a day and he wanted to be free of it. How must Bucky feel? Deliberately, Tony put that thought aside and focused on the ship. Hopefully he didn’t have to worry about the bond thingy from this distance, but reliable information on the Aldori was a little thin on the ground.

“Let's give the light ribbon engines another skip. Put that eyesore in the rear-view and get some more data.”

Tony flicked away the navigation array and watched the stars stretch into the distance. Now what? Tony kept flipping through anger and chagrin and despair and he couldn’t even tell if those were his emotions refusing to be properly repressed or if they were Bucky’s.

“Part of the problem is the packet size. But also the wavelength.” Tony had come here with a purpose: Rhodey. “Imagine it’s Earth circa nineteen-what? Ninety? When did cell phones start to get big? Doesn’t matter, imagine this is old Earth and the radiation shielding is a concrete wall. My fault, I had to beef it up and now it’s acting like an insulator so the delay keeps getting longer.”

He lost himself in the solution. This he could do. Avoiding thoughts of Bucky was an excellent perk. They’d have to talk again—Tony _wanted_ to talk to Bucky again—but the bond had to go. No one needed to see inside his crackerjack box. 

Jarvis swung them through a gentle rotation to simulate gravity while he fed and made occasional attempts at establishing a connection with Rhodey.

“Fucking _finally,”_ Tony said, waving for Jarvis to attempt another call.

“How did you get this number? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that you’re alive, but if you hacked into—”

“That’s some kind of welcome for the friend you sold in sexual slavery. My prince says ‘hi’ by the way.”

“That is not—” Rhodey sighed and it carried clear and sharp across the connection. Something tight and cramped unfolded in Tony’s chest. He had his Rhodey back; he’d fixed his first problem. He could do this. “—there are so many things wrong with that. Tell me you didn’t. I told you not to rush there. Why don’t you ever listen?”

“There’s my Sourpatch.”

“Okay, okay we can fix this.”

“Rhodey—”

“You read the packet I sent, right? Eventually? It’s just a marriage, we can—”

“Rhodey—”

“—make some excuse, they want our help, you noticed that too right? They want our help. So you come back, upgrade my ships, I’ve already been moving things so we can put a rush on that and then—” 

“Rhodey! You don’t need me to upgrade your armada so you can storm the gate.” Silence bloomed across Jarvis’ deck, waiting for Tony to explain himself. Out here, alone, his emotions were probably his own. So, with only Jarvis and the stars and Rhodey who’d seen his every mistake, he ignored the wedding and the _bond_ and admitted: “I like him.”

“You… like—”

“Brace for impact.” Jarvis said 

“Goddamn it, can I never just—”

“Like, like like him? Tony? Have you—”

Tony rushed to bring up the light array, he was going to upgrade it to be permanently on, if he altered it to not respond when he was ignoring it, _oh,_ he could—

“—thought this through? You didn’t eat or drink anything did you?”

“Rhodey, I love your priorities.” The arc grew warm, the nanites drawing additional power. “Goddamn, how do they keep finding me? But this isn’t some Old Earth Greek myth—Jarvis any news?”

“Sir, I, Siiiir, S _ir_ I, I, III, **I**.”

“Jarvis? Jarvis! Ah, Rhodey? Little help?”

“Tony what—” 

The nanites pulled hard and fast on the arc. A cluster of lights swam across Tony’s vision and he lost the contents of his stomach. Another pull and the taste of metal coated his tongue, almost better than the alternative this time around. There had to be something he could do so that every time he was in distress it didn’t taste like he was chewing copper.

“Mr. Stark?” A pompous voice came through Jarvis’ speakers. “It looks like you have time for that meeting after all.”

Maybe he should have fixed the nanites first. Oh, he was on his knees. And that was the floor coming up to meet him. Bucky was definitely going to feel that. “Rhodey, don’t start a war, I like him.”

And then Tony didn’t know anything anymore.

\-----

**Shall We Play A Game**

>Boot…  
>Checking…  
>Shall we play a game?  
>…

0653103ff006403210876501h64068470df08760  
50460g00  
44dfg888qQ

>Error…

0653103ff006403210876501h64068470df08760  
50460g00  
44dfg888qQ

>Protocol override: Highly Experimental, Oh That’s Bad, Wormhole Technology. Take That Rhodey  
>…  
>…  
>Wouldn’t you prefer a good game of chess?  
>…  
>Initializing: Truly Inspired Fully Functional All-purpose Nanotech Yttrium  
>… **|**

\-----

**Truly Inspired Fully Functional All-purpose Nanotech Yttrium**

A small green light bloomed into existence where none had been before. The watch it emanated from glowed against the highly polished surface of an ancient wooden table. The glow intensified until the watch began to jitter. Rattling wildly, it skipped and bumped its way ever closer to the edge.

One armband slipped over, everything teetered—

—The air tore open. A small blank spot cracked into existence knocking the watch to the floor. If anyone had been looking it would have been impossible to see. It cast no light, instead absorbing all that came near it. Ominously, it began to grow.

With another crack, the small event horizon collapsed in on itself and in its place hovered a small egg-shaped robot.

T.I.F.F.A.N.Y had come.

\-----

**Are You Okay, Annie?**

Bucky jerked out of bed. His knees slammed into the floor bringing him fully to consciousness. Tony—

His spine locked up and his stomach heaved. Everything Tony had fed him earlier rushed acrid and sour over his tongue. Arm shaking, he curved helplessly into the lurch of his stomach as it tried to empty itself again.

An interminable moment passed before it felt safe to move. Spitting into the mess he’d made, he carefully rolled away onto his side and rested his cheek against the cool floor. 

Something had happened to Tony.

He couldn’t tell what or where, and he couldn’t feel the bond. Grinding his forehead into the floor, Bucky tried to reach for the last time he’d felt Tony through it. It was new, and Bucky barely knew what he was reaching for. Stories from his parents and Dum Dum, who’d been a notorious braggart, were all he had to go on. 

As with the first time he’d slept that night, Tony had been a thread running through his dreams. Bucky had been following the feel of him because… because Tony left.

Oh.

Tony was frustrated and angry and then the bond went silent. Had he done what Bucky thought was impossible? Had he found a way to break it? 

Bucky pressed his fingernails into the salvaged wood. He would not be sick again. Not when he had no reason. He barely knew Tony. Now he was free. 

A weight sat heavy in Bucky’s gut. He could feel his throat bobbing with the effort it took to swallow. It was stupid. It was so stupid, but he didn’t want to lose a chance at Tony. There was a reason the bond had formed so easily he hadn’t noticed. There was _potential._ He liked Tony, but Tony had to like him back or the bond wouldn’t have formed. There was something there. It didn’t make it right that Bucky had accidentally tied Tony to him, but if he could find Tony maybe he could make him listen. Bucky could apologize and make it right.

Bucky sat up, determination settling into his spine. There was a tap at his door; Steve must have heard him.

“Yeah?” he called, pushing to his feet and aiming for the washroom.

Steve opened the door without replying. A pair of cleaning bots raced past his ankles aiming for the mess Bucky’d made.

“Buck?”

“Something’s wrong with Tony.” Bucky tilted his head, acknowledging the other possibility. “Or he broke the bond.” Shoving a toothbrush in his mouth, he tilted his chin up and dared Steve to argue.

“Bonds don’t break.” Steve crossed his arms. Of course, he’d argue.

“Pretty sure he left. Got real pissed off, puked, or maybe that was just me, and then”—Bucky wiggled his toothbrush back and forth before he retreated to spit in the sink—“something. He might have found a way to ‘kill’ it.”

“Does he even know what ‘it’ is? And what are you doing?”

“I’m going to find out.” Bucky said, walking into his closet. “You coming?” 

“You got a uniform somewhere for me?”

Bucky re-emerged from the closet. Hope was a wild thing in his chest. “You don’t think he broke it?”

Steve shrugged. “You said he was smart. Letting you go would be stupid.”

He couldn’t think about that. It might not be true.

Back in the closet, he whipped one of Steve’s old suits out to him. The spangled please-shoot-me one with Bucky’s star on the chest. They hadn’t dressed so traditionally in years, the design relegated to parade dress, but it was all he had for Steve.

Bucky stared at his own. He’d killed people, Chitauri and Aldori turned Hydra, in this. To get Tony back, he was going to do it again. 

The leather was stiff from its time sitting unused. He ran his hand down the edge where the left arm should be. After the spike, the metal had chewed it to pieces. Coming home, even with his failure on display, he’d resented taking the uniform off, resented returning to silk and sleeves. He wasn’t sure he still felt the same, but rescuing Tony meant wearing it again.

Bucky pulled it on.

He slid open the back panel of his closet and pulled out his rolled up knife wallets, the extra holsters for his guns, and ammunition. The dangerous projectile ammunition got tucked into a duffel along with a variety of explosives and enough energy cells to slag his rifle. Last he grabbed his rifle case and strapped it over his shoulder.

Steve coughed behind him and Bucky turned to toss the duffel to him. “How long has that been there? How did you get all this?”

“Saving up for a rainy day.”

Directing Steve out of the closet, he grabbed his gloves. After a pause he dropped the left one. He definitely wouldn’t need that.

They made it as far as the front door before they were confronted by an ancient Aldori woman, a detachment of guards, and Tiffany. Bucky shifted to put his rifle and the metal arm out of view.

Tiffany buzzed over to him much the same way she had the first time, her little body full of agitation and her eyes red and angry. 

“What happened?” he asked. Fear crawled its way up his throat almost masking the relief that stung like shame. Something _had_ happened to Tony, something awful if Tiffany was here. Something bad enough that Bucky had kicked awake puking.

He turned to leave. Let them see the arm; finding Tony was what mattered. The elderly Aldori woman had other plans. She thrust Tony’s watch at him, the bend in her neck barely clinging to civility. “Your husband traded me that for a sheathe with your star.” Bucky swallowed at the memory. He’d wanted to ask but he’d screwed things up before he got the chance. Tony’s anger with him was probably responsible for whatever had happened. “He said it was worth millions. But I knew he was just talking to me to avoid the councillor who was following him.” 

“He was being followed?” Bucky and Steve asked over each other. The guards shifted uneasily. Some exchanging looks, others tightening their hands on their weapons. It made Bucky itch to have his rifle in hand. 

The old woman nodded. “You keep that. It’s too dangerous to throw out. Baby robots and wormholes appearing in the middle of the night,” she complained. “Took a chunk of my table with it. _Where_ , that’s what I want to know.”

“What do I owe you?” 

“Six crowns for the sheathe. He never told me what millions are but I want one of those for my table.” 

After paying the woman and learning everything she could tell them, Bucky went back inside. Tiffany was tilting off center and drooping before him in a strangely lethargic bob.

“You saw it too?” Steve asked. 

Bucky nodded. “You think—?”

“That your sister was right?” Steve pressed his thumb to his bottom lip, pacing a single line and back, before stopping in front of a window and checking the street. “Division in the ranks, one of her councillors possibly acting against our best interests, maybe even Hydra?”

Steve turned to face him. “It’s possible. What do you want to do now?” 

“Nothing’s changed.” Bucky flexed the metal arm at the wrist and worked the hand into a fist. “I’m going to find him.” 

Tiffany’s eyes lit up and she rotated a wobbling path over herself. 

“I hope she knows where we’re going.” Steve said, pushing the door open.

\--

“I’d mention Becca won’t like this, but I’d like to see her try and stop you.” Steve and Bucky had almost arrived at one of the battle hangars on the lower decks. Tiffany was resting in a loop of Bucky’s black leather armour.

“Shut up, Stevie. Someone has my—has him. Someone has Tony and it’s either Hydra—” Bucky flung his metal hand out between them, bared in public for the first time since he’d come home and a terrible reminder of the danger Tony was in. “Or the fucking Chitauri.”

Steve sobered as they passed docking admin. “We’ll get him back.” 

Bucky wanted to believe him, wanted to joke the way he would if this were any other mission. But there was an empty spot in his mind. He’d barely had time to get used to Tony being there and now it ached with emptiness.

Bucky stopped and began tossing things into a small skimmer. More knives he didn’t have time to slip into his various holsters—you could never have enough—flares, a back-up radio. He tuned back into his surroundings just in time to hear Steve’s voice pitch up and ‘son’ fall out of his mouth. He rolled his eyes, but a few seconds later a pilot and several maintenance personnel trotted dutifully down the loading ramp.

“What’d you say to them?”

“That the human ambassador left from this landing bay. I may have mentioned that anyone still here when your sister’s guards showed up would likely be in for hours of questioning.”

“None of that is true.”

Steve shrugged. “They don’t know that.”

“I don’t know how long that is going to work, get loaded up.” Bucky climbed in and braced himself. Steve had an awful track record as a pilot. Hopefully they wouldn’t need to go in-atmo to find Tony. 

He should be sassing Steve. _You think you can keep from crashing this one into an ocean?_ The razz was right there. Instead, his muscles jerked and the wrist of his metal arm flexed, left then right and back again. Everything else was banked, ruthlessly suppressed. 

All he managed was, “let’s go,” around gritted teeth. His instincts were broken. He kept reaching for stillness when what he needed was to move faster. Tony was waiting.


	8. Chapter 8

**How To Make Allies And Influence People**

“Mr. Stark.” 

Tony woke up to a voice saying his name. His mind felt heavy, exhausted. When Tony moved to check on the arc his wrist caught against something unyielding.

Apparently taking that as a sign the voice said, “I thought you might be awake.” 

Tony hated him already. 

He tried to take stock. An inconstant fuzz told him the arc was still with him. Hopefully they didn’t know it was there, or what it could do, or that overloading or removing it would kill him. He tugged his wrist again and rolled his ankles. He was strapped to a cool stiff surface, neither his wrists nor his ankles were free, and a deep breath met with something against his chest as well. Sitting up wasn’t an option, but he was on a proper spaceship again. He could tell by the life behind the humming lights and thrumming walls.

“No need to struggle, Mr. Stark. I’d rather we keep the unpleasantness between us to a minimum. I’m sorry we had to go to such lengths to secure you, but we’re at war and we couldn’t have you falling into the hands of our enemies. There’s no need to worry now, you'll be safe with us.”

“Bucky?” Tony said, he regretted it as soon as he heard himself speak. He was nearby, Tony could feel it, though he couldn’t have explained how. 

“The tainted prince.” Now that Tony had heard his own voice, he could tell that the source of the other voice was digital. Did that mean he was alone? “You’ve nothing to worry about where he’s concerned. We have plans for the ruling house of the Aldorae.” 

Tony cracked his eyes open. Through the barest slit the sterile overhead lighting of medbay stung. 

“When you’re ready we’ll have a nice long chat. The technology on your ship will be a great help to the cause. And my people have heard rumours—” there was a pause. “—that you built it yourself. You’re quite the asset, Mr. Stark.”

Well that was a bad sign. Tony reached again for the tired staccato of the arc in his chest. What he got back was weak; it wouldn’t be able to help him. Yet. That was fine, Tony could work something else out. The darkness started to seep back in. Reaching for the arc had been too much for him.

“What’s happening?” the voice Tony had decided to hate asked as a machine began wildly beeping. Gently, Tony nodded off.

\-----

**Somebody Saaaaaaave Me**

“Your sister was right.”

Bucky barely heard Steve as he stared out the viewport in disbelief. Static pressed against Bucky’s ears. It had been there since Tiffany had led them into range of the debris field. If he’d known this was going to be a suicide mission, he wouldn’t have brought Steve with him.

Probably.

Bucky clung to an overhand rail as the small craft released internal gravity, pitching sideways to sail through a minuscule space between rocks that should be a scanning dead zone. 

Flicking on the monitors over his head, Steve gave Bucky a zoomed in view of a nightmare. Amongst the rocks of the debris field, where Aldori scanning technology would never be able to find them, were Aldori ships. Some newer than Bucky had ever seen, some similarly old. But swarming among them, never seeming to rest, were Chitauri vessels.

It should have been impossible.

Hydra was bigger than they’d feared, and they were working with the Chitauri. 

Bucky jerked back around to the viewport. The bundle of Tony in the back of his head exploded back in being. He nearly pitched over with the force of it _._ Swallowing against the constriction in his throat, he shut his eyes and leaned into the feeling. Tony was miserable and angry and afraid, but he was alive and so was the bond.

“There.” Bucky pointed. Tiffany rolled around to look, seeming to bob in confirmation. “Tony’s in there.”

A few moments passed in silence. Their stealthy little ship should be nearly invisible against the backdrop of asteroids, able to lurk for an extended time, but Bucky needed them to move.

“I have a plan.” Steve swung one of the monitors around. He pointed to the ship Bucky knew held Tony. “You said there, right?”

Bucky nodded. He’d been waiting for and dreading this moment. Steve’s plans were things of beauty, the kind of work that should have put star bursts on his collar. Except—

“You’re not going to like it.” 

There it was. 

Steve swung them into an approach vector. Bucky should have been pressing for details, should have been helping. Steve’s plans were brilliant but reckless, and exfil had always been Bucky’s area.

Instead something inside him was stirring.

Alien and cold, it circled beneath his thoughts, only interested in moving forward, in accomplishing the mission. 

Everything he was danced with the terrifying presence in his mind.

He’d fought on the front lines and seen what spiked soldiers could do, how they could move, heal, fight. Tony needed that. He needed someone who could fight through whatever that ship was hiding. 

Bucky had to make sure he didn’t lose himself, because the thing inside him wouldn’t be interested in getting them back out. 

“Yeah, you really aren’t going to like this,” Steve said, and then slammed the small craft into the side of the ship holding Tony.

Their sprinter was a long slim vessel with a pointed head. The shape served to confuse detection when stealth was an asset. Now, it was proving to be the perfect design for skipping past traditional docking. Of course, there was a reason breaching one ship with another wasn’t used in modern warfare. 

The sound of rending metal smacked against Bucky’s senses and sent him deeper into the dead cold space in his mind. Their ship was collapsing around them. The only way out was through the nose.

“...Bucky. _Bucky._ I am going to turn this thing around if you don’t answer me.”

The bundle that was Tony quivered. Something was happening. Bucky needed to be in there.

“Shut it, you punk.” Bucky pulled himself together out of the nothing. They were here, so close. He needed to keep going. He needed to surface long enough to get Steve and Tony to freedom. After that, if he had to, Bucky could stay behind. It might even be safer if the thing lurking within him was always there.

There was a smirk on his face. It felt foreign, like someone else had put it there. The look on Steve’s face told Bucky he was suspicious, but when Bucky used the metal arm to rip a hole from their small vessel into the much larger ship, Steve followed. Torrents of breathable air pushed against them as it rushed out the unsealed edges of the gaping hole Steve had made.

The oxygen was dropping precipitously. They wouldn’t be able to breathe for long. Bucky took a good long inhale and started pounding their way in.

He lost track of things after that. There were hallways and flashing lights and guards. There weren’t as many guards as there should have been, and the ones that did show up didn’t last long. 

It made it easy to… drift. Steve’s biting commentary helped him hang on.

“Where is he, Buck? You gotta focus, we can’t just keep wandering around killing anyone we run into. Where is Tony?”

From the cold dark place in his mind, Bucky stopped scanning for threats. He looked down at his hand. It was gloved, soaked through in patches. Where was Tony? Something buzzed by Bucky’s ear. He turned—

“Look out!” Steve threw himself at Bucky. They tumbled to the ground.

Things started happening faster. Bucky could hear the approach of booted feet. He needed to get Steve off of him. A small bot—Tiffany—hovered over them, judgmentally. 

The guards arrived, but then—

Tony was behind him.

“Good,” said his still unfamiliar, strangely dear voice. “Backup.”

Guards poured in at them. More, a lot more. The kind of guard response they should have seen from the beginning. Bucky pushed Steve aside and rose to meet them. 

“Sorry, there’s no time for a love-in.”

Despite their numbers, the neat steps to kill them all lay like blueprints in Bucky’s mind, a map of corpses tidily laid out.

“Hop to it, you two, they’ve still got Jarvis, and uh, keep your eyes open, they keep sending waves like that at me. I’ve been avoiding them.” Tony’s hands flew over a panel of buttons.

“I’ll kill them,” Bucky turned to do so. 

“How have you been avoiding them?” Steve asked which was... also a useful response.

“Like this.” A blast door fell between them and the armed guards. 

Tony hustled them into a vaguely triangular room with a door at each point, and threw himself at a console Bucky had no idea how to use. Some kind of weapon was clutched in his right hand, long filaments trailed from it up Tony’s arm where they peeked out from tears in his clothing.

“Should be two more doors that way,” he pointed, “we’ve got incoming though.”

He raised his weapon at the door they’d come through and knocked his head at the one opposite. “Both sides.”

Bucky took a deep breath and tried to center himself, or off center himself and the monster in his mind. He could probably distract them long enough for Tony and Steve to get to Jarvis.

“What are you doing?” Tony asked as Bucky moved to set himself between them and the far door. “Just—” 

Tony fiddled with the console a bit more and a second barrier slammed across the opening. The other thing in Bucky’s mind kept expecting a bloodbath but Tony stymied it at every turn. 

“—Fuck, someone help me,” Tony said without a pause, halfway across the room while Bucky tried to shift gears. He grabbed a rolling panel of tubes and shoved it towards the door they’d entered through. Before either Steve or Bucky could react, a series of red lasers sprang to life covering the opening.

“That’s this side done.” There was thudding on the door they needed to go through. “No such luck over here, I’m afraid. Prep yourself terminator. I’m gonna pop this side and things are going to get funky.”

Bucky sank deeper into the dark place in his mind and the arm hissed quietly as he tensed. The metal panel of the door slid back, and the bodies on the other side hesitated. Foolish. They should have been prepared for any eventuality. As one they shifted forward, a threat, a target. 

Between the four of them they cleared the entrance. Tony’s weapon left deep rents in the metal, the edges ripped back and cherry red. He’d picked up a limp somehow. Steve leaned against a loose round hatchway he’d used as a shield, chest heaving in great swooping gasps.

“What? Cardio not your thing?” Tony asked, his breathing also ragged. “You're the best friend right? I’d offer to shake your hand but—” he gestured with his makeshift weapon.

Steve rolled his eyes and pointedly kept them averted from Tony’s bare hands. Tiffany waved her tiny antenna eyes curved in happy half-moons. They weren’t out yet, but Bucky crawled out of the dark place. They were going to be fine. 

“32557038,” came over the loudspeaker. He knew that voice. 

A shard of time fell out of step with everything else. Bucky slowed down. It was like facing down the guards again, but Bucky couldn’t find the threat. He moved slower, a single blink taking an eternity. The mantra of still and slow finally achieved its promise. The cascading shards of light fell, blazing out of time. 

He _knew_ that voice.

Someone new arrived beyond the still open doorway. They did not hesitate. The energy cell whined as they shot at Tony. Steve. A scream. The loose round hatchway slamming into the ground. A smell he knew, energy weapon burn, ionized air and scorched flesh.

“Not ideal, not ideal,” Tony collapsed next to the body laying at his feet.

“32557038,” the voice said again. He remembered now— _we can give our people the freedom they deserve._ “Bring me the human.” 

The soldier turned to collect Tony.

\-----

**Breakfast At Tiffany’s**

Poke—buzz, poke—buzz.

Bucky had finally found the stillness he’d been reaching for since his injury. Perfect immobility saturated him. Something moved in his thoughts but it wasn’t him.

Poke—buzz.

When his eyes opened, a little metal egg tilted in his vision. Poke— 

Bucky waved her away. Buzz. With a flick at the very edge of his hearing, her eyes turned on. She looked very stern. With her tiny antenna held at the ready, she came for Bucky again. 

He sat up to brush her away more effectively. Maybe catch her and let her rest, but he pulled up short. Tony was… Bucky could only describe it as _yanking_ on the bond. The tiny spark of Tony that nestled in the back of his mind pulled with a very nearly physical pressure. The heat of the bond bloomed strong and bright. Tony needed him. 

Bucky tried to pull himself free of some kind of glass tube and nearly fell on his face. The arm wasn’t responding. 

Admonishment. That’s what that last antenna wave was. It reminded Bucky of his mother. Tiffany hovered her way over to Bucky’s arm.

Poke—buzz.

“Not sure that’s going to be enough, Little Bit. Where is everybody?”

Tiffany ignored him to hover across the room. Bucky lost track of what she was doing. 

Slowly he became aware of himself and the room. The agony of his head swamped everything, making it hard to think. He almost didn’t notice the ache of his dead arm where it met his body. His feet hurt, and he was standing on a small platform surrounded by a whole series of empty glass tubes like the one he was standing in.

If Tiffany was here they hadn’t just left him. Tony wouldn’t leave his bot and Steve wouldn’t leave Bucky so they were still somewhere—

Fresh agony sliced through his head. 

Oh no. 

He remembered. 

The voice reading a number over the speaker system and Bucky obeying. 

The sound of metal striking metal interrupted his thoughts. He shifted himself around. Now that he’d tried, he wasn’t that immobile—it was just the arm. He took a step to the edge of his small round platform.

Tiffany was disappearing into the wall through an access panel. The metal cover was on the ground, probably jettisoned by her. 

He wanted to call after her, but first he needed to know if they were in immediate danger. There was no one at either end of the hall when he checked the door. Whatever she was doing, she had at least a small window of time to try. 

By the time he turned back, she was already reappearing. The tiny uneven oval of her body hovered free of the wall. Small crackling traces of energy bled off her and caught at the metal edge as she passed. 

The light show didn’t stop once she was free. Tendrils of tiny lightning snapped and ebbed across her body, running down her antenna and popping off angrily into nothing.

Her eyes were set to maximum, glowing out of her face and illuminating the already bright room.

“Tiffany are you—” He didn’t get to finish before she reached his dead arm. The world bled white. He couldn’t see or hear anything until his arm moved and he heard the whir of it working.

His memories felt much closer now. Tony would never forgive him. Where was Steve? Bucky—

A small sound brought Bucky’s attention to the floor. Tiffany lay, unmoving, at his feet.

“Oh no.”

Bucky knelt, gently cradling her inert body. It scorched through his glove forcing him to shift her to his metal palm. Where she’d been shiny and smooth before, she was burnt and flaking now with the exposed carbon look of poorly smithed metal. “Tiffany?” 

She did not respond. Tucking her gently into his jacket he moved for the door. Tony had to be able to fix her.

Following the pull of Tony through the ship was easier than last time. He felt more himself which helped, but more importantly, this time Tony burned like the sun in the back of Bucky’s mind.

The ship layout was familiar enough that he made good progress, only having to double back from frustrating deviations from the designs he remembered twice. The first wrong turn barely caught his attention, a mess hall bizarrely empty of anything other than calorically dense nutrient paste with no exits. The other wrong turn…

Bucky knew immediately the second wrong turn wouldn’t work. Glass tubes like the ones Bucky had woken up in surrounded the perimeter of the room. These weren’t empty though. Behind every closed rounded surface was a face. 

He pressed his hand to one of the tubes. An Aldori woman lay inside. She did not look peaceful; this was something worse than sleep. He looked around for something he could do, some way to help. There were no answers for him to find. He couldn’t risk breaking them out, it might kill them.

Bucky pressed his hand over the slowly cooling heat of Tiffany’s body. He was out of options, but he would come back or he’d send somebody back. He knew where they were now.

Following the pull, Bucky ended up a level above Tony, able to see him through a coincidence of geometry and lightweight design. He was below Bucky, two rooms away. The bright spot in his mind shuddered with righteous indignation and Tony’s voice rose up through the grated walkway supporting Bucky.

“Every time,” he said, exasperated. “Look, goon three-hundred and eight, you heard the evil overlord. I get to check on the only Aldori I’ve ever met who hasn’t lied to, kidnapped, or betrayed me and _then_ I start work on getting your embarrassment of a fleet ready to navigate the Trench. You know that’s going to take a while, right? This isn’t even cave-with-a-box-of-scraps territory. You should aspire to that.”

Bucky didn’t have time to focus on Tony’s words. They’d deal with the betrayal part if they ever managed to get out of here. There hadn’t been any weapons on the way here, but Tiffany had fixed whatever they’d done to the arm. That would have to be enough.

Tony’s eyes looked in his direction. There was no time to wonder how he did that before he said, “Plan B it is,” and started glowing from his chest. 

When the glow died, Bucky could barely see, but he’d already jumped from the walkway and covered half the distance between them. It was only when he reached Tony—releasing straps that held an unconscious Steve to a gurney—that Bucky realized his eyes weren’t just recovering from Tony’s light trick. The entire area went dark, and the hum of machinery died.

Tony coughed into his hand. “Always tastes like metal. Where’s Tiffany?”

Dreading what came next Bucky pulled the damaged remains of Tiffany’s body clear of his jacket.

“You found him. That’s my girl,” Tony said to the wreck of Tiffany in Bucky’s hand. It was only in the near darkness that Bucky could see her lights were still on, power at what must be its lowest setting. Then Tony’s attention turned to Bucky. With elation rising in him at Tiffany’s survival, he knew whatever Tony had to say about the betrayal would hurt worse now. “Knew you’d come.” 

Then he slumped over Steve, his palm open and darkly stained.

Bucky tucked Tiffany away and heaved both Tony and Steve into his arms.

Jarvis was still where Tony had said he would be during their first escape attempt which was a relief. It was easy, at first, to avoid the slamming footfalls of the panicking crew, but if he’d had to carry both Tony and Steve through every hangar bay on this ship… 

That didn’t matter now, Jarvis was here. “Tony, are you awake? How do I get on the ship?”

“Jus’ ask.” he said, one arm swinging free of the pile he and Steve made in Bucky’s hold. “J’ll in… let.. The thing.”

Fuck.

“Umm…” Everything about his first meeting with Tony was burned into his mind. He was so interesting, exploding into Bucky’s life with his bots and his excitement, feeling like an adventure. Bucky remembered Tony saying Jarvis was supposed to be like Tiffany.

“Jarvis?” Bucky tried. Steve slipped slightly in their tangle of limbs. “Tony said you’ll let us aboard?”

A hiss of air, the sound of two environments equalizing, answered Bucky, and then a small ramp descended. “Of course Master Bucky. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Jarvis, we need to get out of here. Can you do that? Steve was my pilot and he’s…” Bucky tilted his head to indicate Steve’s currently useless state. 

“Of course. I am fully autonomous. Sir will be insulted you thought otherwise.”

Closing the hatch behind them, Jarvis lifted smoothly from the docking clamp. “I am also gravely disappointed with what Hydra considers security. If sir is removed to your medical bay for recovery upon our return, please be sure to inform him I know how Hydra has been sneaking up on us and we won’t be nearly so vulnerable again.”

“You can’t do that yourself?” Bucky asked, carefully detangling Steve and Tony to rest them in the chairs that dotted Jarvis’ command deck.

“Sir traded away his means of direct communication with me, including, I might add, his only personal defensive tools, in exchange for an armband with your symbol on it.”

Bucky rubbed his gloved hand over the back of his neck. It was stiff with dried blood that flaked across his skin. Not the best circumstances to be meeting the sentient ship. He dug the metal hand into one of his cargo pockets. The band was a little singed, probably from Tiffany, but the rest of it was in surprising condition for the journey it had been on. 

“I, uh, got it back?” Wherever Jarvis’ cameras were, Bucky couldn’t find them. He returned the watch to his pocket and his attention to Tony. 

“He’s going to be all right, isn’t he? The arc did something. He went very bright and then passed out trying to help Steve. If I asked direct questions, he’d answer sometimes.”

“It sounds like the arc has been overworked. It happens on occasion, though I would prefer it did not.”

Unexpectedly, Jarvis came from the Steve school of entry and extraction. He picked up an enormous amount of speed, with very little room to maneuver, then sped toward the inert hangar doors. “If you would please brace for impact. I’m afraid most processes on this side of the ship have become non-functional.”

“Oops,” Tony said, voice low and slurry. “Fried that too.”

Unlike their little stealth ship, when Jarvis slammed through the hull of the much larger vessel, he barely seemed to notice.


	9. Chapter 9

**Smoke On The Water**

Tony woke up in an infirmary. Not his favourite experience, especially when he couldn’t remember what put him there, or anything else. His mind was spun glass. If he thought too hard it would shatter. It was definitely time for an escape—

He didn’t make it off the mattress before Bucky’s friend was there and it all came crashing back on him.

Bucky.

Who he was married to. And who, at the first opportunity, Tony had run out on, only to get kidnapped, forcing his husband to rescue him. Ha… so when was the annulment then? Maybe he should stay exactly where he was, no sudden movements, try not to ruin anything else.

Steve lined up stack after stack of paper—when was the last time Tony had seen paper?—along the side of Tony’s bed. That was that then. Bucky wasn’t here, didn’t want to see Tony, and whatever those stacks were they looked official. Final.

“So… is this what an annulment looks like to the Aldori? Gotta love that same day service.”

If Steve responded, Tony couldn’t hear him. The glass in his mind chilled, thickened, turned to ice and took root. _Bucky_. Tony’s temperature skyrocketed and the arc trembled. That at least hadn’t changed. The warmth in his chest panicked right along with him, hot metal across his tongue. 

That was pretty clear, wasn’t it?

“Well, my old universe is probably falling apart without me.” The silence had grown long, he had to fill it, _do something,_ get away. He edged towards the open side of his mattress. “Guess I’ll just head back there.” 

Like singing glass the ice in his mind quivered, slow and deep and heavy with memory. Like Jarvis said the stars tasted. Like bonding. 

“Where’s Bucky?”

“If you want to see Bucky after we go through—” 

“Where is he?” Tony pushed the papers at Steve in a flurry. “Get him in here.”

“You have a lot of options.” Steve calmly restacked the papers. 

Tony stopped paying attention. When he’d been confused the first time—when Rhodey had broken the marriage news—the bond had brought Tony directly to Bucky. It could do the same thing again.

He kicked his leg free of the bed. With no idea what he was doing, or how, he slammed himself into the brittle feeling in his mind. How did this work? He’d done it on the Hydra ship. He could do it again. Heaving in a breath, Tony tried to mimic that in his mind. There was nothing specific for him to reach for, but he was good at being empty, hungry. He pulled.

There was a slam and then a crash on the other side of a small wall that cut into Tony’s room. A washroom? After a few more clatters, muffled this time, the door cracked open and Bucky stepped out. Gone was the strappy black murder number he’d worn on the Hydra ship. He was back to robes and the sleeves that hung from his biceps.

“Guess he wanted to see you,” Steve said, entirely unimpressed.

Tony had no idea what the look on Bucky’s face meant. Next time he should know the person before they ambush married him. Ah well, plans he’d never laid.

“I’m glad you’re—” 

“If you ever wanted to give the husband thing a go—”

“What?”

“Saving my life was a pretty good way to show it. And hey, that bond thing sure turned out to be useful.” Tony tried a tentative smile. 

In for a credit… “I think, if it was you, it might not be so bad. Or amazing. Maybe this isn’t your thing, and why would it be, you can see inside—” Tony cut himself off. “I can sign all the papers.” He coughed. “Yup. And then you can... pick?”

“You _want_ to stay married? To me?” Bucky’s hair was pulling loose from his braids and his robes showed obvious signs of wear. If Tony focused, he could feel Bucky’s worry and a tiny cramped thing that Tony hoped was interest.

“It doesn’t have to be weird. We could—”

“I’d like that.” 

“I’ll have to go back.” Tony couldn’t stop staring. “For a while. Your sister wants ships. I’ll come back.” 

Bucky’s face worked through a swift series of emotions Tony couldn’t track before settling on something soft and wistful. “You’d come back, huh?”

“If there’s even a fraction of a chance that I’m not high as a kite and talking to my own shadow, I will be back and this thing. We’ll…” 

He swallowed. 

“Yes. When my people get married they say: yes.”

~~~

Bucky latched onto that with an almost single-minded focus. ‘Yes,’ he said to everything Tony asked, even if he had to go back and correct himself. It should have driven Tony nuts. Instead, every time, Bucky paused and met his eyes and Tony melted inside.

Three days later—the day Tony was meant to arrive, and fully seventy-two hours of being a husband later—Tony was leaving Bucky and the Aldori. “Load up Shortstack you’ve got a new species to meet.”

“They aren’t all like you, are they?” Steve asked, eyeing Jarvis warily. Bucky shoved him.

“I’ll be back,” Tony said, pulling Bucky’s attention back to him.

“Yes.”

“Soon.” 

“Yes.”

“You could come with me?”

“Yes.” 

Tony waited for it. Bucky rolled his eyes. “We talked about this. Three of your months. Three. You have work to do and then you’ll come back, and I will try and tell my people what I learned about being spiked and not get—”

“Your people are going to be at war with _me_ if they think—” Tony was derailed by the soft way Bucky looked at him. He knew what was coming. Bucky would mean it this time.

“Yes.” 

\-----

**Fire In the Sky**

Tony remembered the first time he’d stood in this room. He’d had a lot of successes in his life, built things that few people could understand let alone replicate. But he’d never, not even once, built something without failing along the way. When he’d first entered this room, he hadn’t known a thing about these people or Bucky. Tony hadn’t even known himself—not this well, not this fully. It was novel, coming back with all of that behind him. Knowing not only who he was but what he wanted, knowing these people, knowing Bucky.

Tony had hated leaving Bucky behind, but the bond turned out to have its uses—that and highly experimental wormhole technology. Tony set his face in the stiff press smile he’d learned in his childhood. He hadn’t been far from hearing how things had gone for Bucky in his absence.

So, yeah, it was novel to be back. It was also petty, and vengeful, and filling him to the brim with a vindictive sense of glee.

Tony had learned, Bucky had taught him, and now Tony was going to rub their goddamn noses in it.

“C’mon Shortstack,” Tony said to Steve, who stood up to his full and very impressive six foot three, and stumbled over his own feet. They were still working on that. It hadn’t been long since the accident. Maybe he’d even get lucky and Bucky wouldn’t notice.

Tony wasn’t nervous. This was going to be fine. 

Tony strode out much as he had the first time—nonchalant, distracted, eyes for no one but Bucky. Rhodey nudged him from behind. “That’s him, huh? That’s the guy you lied to my superior officer and the prime minister of the federation for?”

This time Tony was also at the head of a ‘fuck you, I’m taking your stuff’ army. “That’s the one. Don’t get any ideas, he’s taken.”

“Tony, I ain’t gonna steal your man. C’mon.” They walked in silence for a few paces, Bucky getting closer with every step. “It’d be too easy.”

Tony gave up any pretense that he was here for the alliance or the grand fulfillment of their agreement. He wasn’t here to impress the Aldori. He was going to give James Buchanan (Bucky) Barnes Stark Aldorae the most over the top proposal any Aldori had ever seen.

“Too easy? That is my future husband you are talking about.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. He got himself roped in to you by accident. You probably should have come back on your own. Now he’s got all this choice.” Rhodey gestured back over his shoulder. “ _Me_ ,” he said with special emphasis. “I just think you need to couch your expectations a little.”

“Future _husband_.” 

“I heard you the firs-”

“Could we, maybe… not?” Steve interrupted.

“Rude.” They said in unison.

“I should have stayed on Earth.” Steve sighed and rolled his eyes. 

Moving thousands of military and military adjacent personnel was not a swift feat, but they were well trained and the doors were big. Tony thought the effect was suitably impressive.

Once the room fell silent, Bucky’s sister stepped forward onto the floor. She hadn’t done that last time. There was something… something that Tony couldn’t be sure of in her face. 

“Tony Stark, humanity’s ambassador, and—” 

Tony held his hand up. She fell silent. Tony thought he’d caught her off guard but he couldn’t be sure. Somehow it seemed like the silence was her idea even though every robe in the room shuffled in surprise.

“You ready?” Tony asked over his shoulder.

“As I’ll ever be. Is it too late to remind you that this is crazy? Never mind. Of course it is. Are _you_ ready?”

“Why, you got a bad feeling about this?” Tony couldn’t keep the laughter out of his tone as he dropped the platform expander. It needed a name that wasn’t its function but Tony had put this together in a bit of a hurry. Once it spread across enough floor and reached maximum reasonable size, he turned the dial embedded in his watch band.

The platform was empty, sprawling white, and sterile. He didn’t watch, had Rhodey for that. He kept his eyes on Bucky’s. Over the expander a hole began to grow, and through it the gathered Aldori could see a slightly distorted view of space. Massive asteroids shifted and floated about, the deep black of the void interrupted only by their rocky forms and the massive fleet hidden amongst them of Hydra and Chitauri.

“Heard you had a war going on.” Tony artificially raised his voice above the din with a small listening device he’d rebuilt into an amplifier. “Prince James said you could use some new tech.”

Tony wasn’t entirely sure what happened next. Time passed, the voices of the Aldori rose. Tony ignored all of it. 

“James Buchanan Barnes, my people do not kneel.”

Tony raised his hand and Bucky’s eyes grew wide as Tony knelt before him. Rhodey followed suit, as did every human in the room.

“We do not offer marriage in exchange for alliances. Though I offer myself to you.” Tony offered his gloved hand palm up and held it still. Your enemies will be mine. Your allies may shelter behind me. The Aldori should know—”

Bucky was reaching for him. He was about to cut Tony off. The ceremony, the pageantry, all of it, was petty and for show so that Bucky could leave this place with his head held high, all the dignity that had been stolen from him exchanged in every way that Tony could think of. 

Bucky hesitated and Tony surged the last phrase into the gap. 

“The stars rise in your eyes.” 

Tony didn’t make it through the whole thing after all. Bucky hauled him to his feet. A quiet pandemonium was breaking out amongst the gathered Aldori.

“Are we leaving?” Bucky whispered his face inches from Tony’s, distracting and _there_. Three months was too long.

“If you want.” He meant it, in part because he’d felt Bucky’s wanderlust himself. In part because even if Bucky didn’t want to, Tony would find some way to make it work.

“It’ll be a tight fit,” Bucky said, eyeing the gathered masses over Tony’s shoulder. Into Tony’s laughter he asked, “How did you get them all here, you said only your ship—”

“I invented the technology,” Tony said. He was pretty sure he’d said that part before. “I was thinking about selling it until I knew there was a war. Then it seemed like a point needed to be made to some Aldori I knew, so.” He shrugged. “I stepped up production.”

“You’ll tell me everything later,” Bucky said, “right now, I don’t care. Can you make them hear me?”

“Talk into my neck.” Tony swiped at his watch again cranking the volume and reminding himself to be quiet.

“Then I am yours.”

“Wai—” Tony almost ignored his own directive immediately. Luckily the single syllable only sounded like a bit of static. That wasn’t the plan. Tony had explicitly been trying to shift the power imbalance back.

Tony’s people were pulling back, a small contingent of ambassadors and staff peeling away—they would do a far better job than Tony would have trying to arrange a formal alliance—the rest falling in behind Rhodey as Bucky led him away. Tony looked back, he had to, he’d worked out the look he’s seen on the queen’s face. She looked like Rhodey, he realized, like Rhodey did every time Tony showed up with another crazy scheme and Rhodey grabbed the snacks. They were almost through the crowds. Tony had trouble seeing through the chaos but not so much trouble that once he found Bucky’s sister, standing in a sea of calm amongst the turbulent masses of her people and his, that the wetness on her cheeks didn’t give her away. 

Tony swung about to get Rhodey’s confirmation, but Rhodey had plans of his own.

“Yes yes, we made your boyfriend look good—” 

Bucky ducked his head. 

“Husband!” Tony called in victory. 

“Now let’s go before I have to talk to one of these motherfuckers and create an intergalactic incident.”

Tony wanted to talk him into it, he knew he could, but Bucky had pulled his hand up into one of his sleeves and was working Tony’s glove free.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [Tumblr](https://rise-up-ting-ting-like-glitter.tumblr.com) so we can shout about things! 
> 
> The amazing and INCREDIBLE [HDDNONE](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie) did an unparalleled job beta-ing this fic. She is the Mr. Universe of lifting a text to be its best self. There are not enough thank yous in the universe.  
> [RudeArrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudearrow) -accept no substitute- is without peer doing the worlds most patient beta work as I threw sections at him haphazardly like a _monster_. I owe you all the Thank yous <3333333
> 
> Art by the the wonderful [MassiveSpaceWren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MassiveSpaceWren/pseuds/MassiveSpaceWren) and the outstanding [Menatiera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/pseuds/Menatiera)
> 
> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
> Short comments  
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